Rutte asks TalTech to speed drone and air-defence work

Mark Rutte, secretary-general of NATO, addressed students and researchers at TalTech. He said the alliance is not facing an armed attack any time soon. He asked European governments to reinforce conventional forces and to move faster on unmanned aircraft and protection of the skies.

Rutte warned that Russia is increasing hybrid attacks throughout Europe and remains a lasting danger. A troop build-up like the one that preceded Moscow’s full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022 would be visible, he said, and the alliance would respond.

He said NATO can defend its own ground and that every ally still backs Article 5, the clause on collective defence. “NATO stands with Estonia against every threat,” he said.

He held up Estonia’s defence spending and its help for Ukraine as a model for other members. The country hosts forward land forces at Tapa, backs the air-policing mission out of Ämari, and contributes cyber know-how through the Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn.

Estonia’s tech industry was a further strength, he said. Firms there are working on unmanned aircraft, interceptors, cyber tools, software used on the battlefield, and energy storage. Estonian skill in software, AI and autonomous systems can sit alongside manufacturing in other member states, he added. That combination could strengthen NATO’s forces and Estonia’s economy through skilled jobs and by turning concepts into usable equipment. He called the country a place where a sound idea can become something real.

He praised a society-wide resilience effort, including tens of thousands of Defence League volunteers and school classes on survival and media literacy. National forces, advanced technology, a growing arms industry and ordinary people all add to the alliance, he said.

On the question of useful research for security, he told the TalTech audience to focus on drones and ways to stop them. Ukraine has shown that keeping large stocks is not sufficient. Allies need to produce new machines quickly as designs change.

He also wants air defence in layers: lower-cost options for cities and critical sites, together with high-end weapons such as Patriot. Lessons on drones flow from Ukraine to NATO, while NATO shares tactics and strategy in return. “It is really a two-way street,” he said.

Members pledged at their 2025 Hague summit to devote five per cent of GDP each year to defence and related security by 2035. Rutte said Europe and Canada are taking a larger share of responsibility, and that Europe should stay aligned with the United States. The allies are “so much stronger” as a group, he said. Washington also benefits because the alliance helps secure the North Atlantic and the sea approaches to North America.

He opposed a separate European army standing beside national forces. NATO already possesses the command system and plans required to direct 32 member militaries. One European army would mean countries surrendering their own forces, and he does not expect that.

Rutte said the alliance is deliberately unclear about which hybrid attack could bring Article 5 into play, so Moscow or other hostile governments do not receive a useful guide. NATO has several ways to answer, and those steps will not always be announced or amount to hitting back directly.

He commended Estonia for passing NATO details of a hybrid incident in August and pressed other members to share in the same way. Baltic Sentry, started after cables on the seabed were harmed near the end of 2024, was a visible step that raised the price for Russia, he said.

Security also rests on the public, he said. He finished with a 1982 episode from the Soviet occupation: Estonian students at summer camp set up a mock NATO post, put English signs on it and served afternoon tea at their “British” site. One of them later became the country’s ambassador to the alliance. Young people, he said, can defy an empire with courage and creativity. Russia is attacking Ukraine and running hybrid operations in Europe out of weakness, he argued. If students keep showing courage and creativity, NATO can protect its population of about one billion, now and later.