Lithuania seeks AI airspace monitoring network using phones and radars

Lithuania’s Defence Ministry and armed forces want to combine mobile phones, video cameras and radar into a single airspace monitoring system, LRT reports. Defence industry representatives describe the plan as highly ambitious, while the minister expects results within a year.

The initiative follows the fall of a Russian missile in Poland, which Lithuania’s president said showed the need to strengthen air defence. In Lithuania, Russian Gerbera drones were recorded a year ago, while Ukrainian drones heading towards targets in Russia have been observed this year. Some objects fell on their own and were captured by residents’ surveillance cameras, while others disappeared from radar and were not found.

“We have a clear vision and concept for implementing an integrated rather than fragmented air defence system,” Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas said. He added that Ukrainian experts had helped Lithuania stay on course.

The ministry and the armed forces have asked businesses to develop software based on artificial intelligence that could connect all detection tools available in Lithuania.

Vincas Jurgutis, a representative of the Defence and Security Industry Association, called the project ambitious not only for Lithuania but potentially for the entire world. Retired Major Darius Antanaitis said it could involve artificial intelligence and various sensors, including video cameras and even mobile phone cameras and speakers.

Antanaitis said such a system could detect very small targets across an area of one square kilometre and at altitudes of up to 3,000 metres, where many radars cannot see them.

VILNIUS TECH university is already working with American and Ukrainian partners on a similar NATO project. Defence and security expert Mantas Mieželis said the team was developing artificial intelligence and sensor technology so the system could identify approaching objects considerably earlier.

Experts said Ukraine’s experience was important, but noted that Ukraine also lacks air defence systems and that Lithuania faces different challenges. “Forty kilometres is nothing in Ukraine, but 40 kilometres in Lithuania is the distance from the Belarusian border to Vilnius,” Antanaitis said.

Kaunas wants results within a year, but businesses and experts warned that the timeline may be unrealistic. Mieželis said it was not yet clear which technologies and sensors would be needed. Jurgutis said prototype systems and pilot batches could be developed within a year, while Antanaitis described connecting different systems without installing new ones as a major challenge.

The Defence Ministry has allocated at least 2 billion euros for air defence over four years. Opposition lawmaker Laurynas Kasčiūnas said an additional 4 billion to 4.5 billion euros by 2030 would be needed for a layered system capable of protecting critical infrastructure, strategic facilities, cities and residents. Kaunas said Lithuania did not have the sums calculated by the opposition and would therefore need to take a different approach. The prime minister has named air defence as one of the country’s three most important priorities.