Baltic Business
Quarterly
The leading  English language Business Magazine for the Baltics since 2018.

The Baltic Countries welcome the defence industry with a green corridor

Just a few years ago, the defence industry in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was still in its infancy. Now, the geopolitical situation has completely changed and the defence industry in the Baltics is growing rapidly. NATO plays the key role, but Germany is the most important European partner both militarily and economically. Boosted by the deployment of a full German brigade in Lithuania – it is a historic project for the German Bundeswehr. It will be the largest and deepest engagement of the Bundeswehr in a foreign country ever.

 

Planned investments over the next few years will amount to more than 11 billion euros. As the German Chamber of Commerce we also expect positive spill over effects into the real economy. Additionally, there is the project of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall to build an ammunition factory in Lithuania, investing more than €180 million and creating at least 150 jobs. Starting already in October 2024 – and thanks to a special national green corridor policy, it will get SUPER FAST BUILDING PERMITS and FULL SUPPORT from the government. New military-industry synergies are already forming around this investment across the entire Baltic region.

 

The Lithuanian Ministry of the Economy and Innovation has already signed contracts for 14 large-scale investment projects, which will create nearly 4000 jobs and attract more than €1.25 billion in investment.

​

Latvia has successfully positioned itself in the drone industry. The Latvian-led drone coalition now includes 15 countries - Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Ukraine, Sweden and the United Kingdom. To date, the Drone Coalition member countries have raised more than €500 million in drone donations for Ukraine. The Drone Coalition's ambition is to provide one million drones to Ukraine. In July, a package of more than 500 Latvian-made drones was delivered to Ukraine. At the beginning of the summer, a special drone training and testing ground was opened in Latvia's Selija polygon, which, for the first time, hosted the “Baltic Zenith 2024” international military exercise.

 

The Estonian government in Tallinn has decided to create a defence industry fund that will invest directly and via private funds in companies developing defence-related technologies. In addition to this at the end of May, the NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) officially inaugurated its new regional Hub in Tallinn, Estonia. In January, 44 companies began DIANA’s first accelerator programme to develop their commercial technologies in response to NATO’s security challenges. Nine of these companies followed the accelerator programme at Tehnopol in Tallinn. On 22 May 2024, they demonstrated their innovations at a DIANA Demo Day. Technologies on display included innovative fuel cells, a cyber ‘kill-switch’, micro wind turbines, secure optical communications and drone identification technology. 

​

These ongoing projects, as well as many other initiatives you can read about in the following pages, show that the Baltic defence industry boom is here to stay. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have demonstrated their readiness to bring to bear the full innovation capacity and together with Germany and other NATO members, to build a more resilient and peaceful future!!!

 

IGITUR QUI DESIDERAT PACEM, PRAEPARET BELLUM.

(PUBLIUS FLAVIUS VEGETIUS RENATUS, Writer of the 400-500 a.D.)   “..therefore let him, who desires peace, prepare for war.” 

​

Florian Schröder, Publisher

​