Fifteen NATO countries, including Belgium, have launched two new initiatives to strengthen airspace protection and enhance deterrence and defence.
The conflict in Ukraine has shown how effective and dangerous technologies such as small drones can be in warfare.
Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom have committed to investing in more efficient solutions against low-flying threats (below 150 metres), according to NATO.
These same fifteen countries, plus the Czech Republic, have also initiated a project on passive air surveillance, such as sound detection.
NATO states that it is "essential to identify incoming threats that cannot be detected by active air surveillance capacities like radars and satellites."
"The war in Ukraine has demonstrated how effective and dangerous technologies like small drones can be in conflicts," NATO said.
Enhancing the capability to detect and track such threats and the ability to respond to them is of paramount importance, the alliance added.
Through these two projects, the allies will collaboratively develop and purchase new capacities, and also improve the interoperability of existing resources, which will result in reduced costs.
A signing ceremony for both initiatives took place on Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where defence ministers from member states were meeting.
