NATO plans 'automated defensive zone' on European borders with Russia

NATO is preparing to significantly strengthen defenses along its European borders with Russia over the next two years, relying on advanced technologies and almost fully automated systems, a senior German general has told German media.

According to Brigadier General Thomas Lowin, deputy chief of staff for operations at NATO Land Forces Command in Izmir, Turkey, the Alliance is planning to create an "automated defensive zone," which will serve as a first line of defense against any potential enemy advance.

"The defense plan will include a defensive zone that the enemy must cross before advancing, a kind of hot zone," Lowin declared in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

According to him, this area will be equipped with a wide network of sensors and intelligent systems, which will be able to detect enemy forces in real time and automatically activate defense mechanisms. These mechanisms will include armed drones, partially autonomous combat vehicles, unmanned ground robots, as well as automated air and missile defense systems.

However, the general stressed that, despite the high level of automation, the final decision on the use of weapons will always remain in human hands. "The decision to open fire will not be left to machines, but will always be the responsibility of humans," he underlined.

The sensors envisaged in this project will be deployed both on the ground and in the air and will cover an area of ​​several thousand kilometers along NATO's eastern borders. According to Lowin, they will collect and analyze data on enemy movements, weapons use and suspicious activities, distributing this information in real time to all member countries of the Alliance.

In addition to building this automated defensive zone, NATO's plan also envisages strengthening existing weapons stocks to ensure sustained readiness in the event of an escalation of the security situation.

According to Welt am Sonntag, some elements of this system are already being tested in pilot projects in Poland and Romania. If all goes according to plan, NATO aims to have the entire system operational by the end of 2027.

These developments come at a time when European countries have been facing a significant increase in intrusions by Russian or unidentified drones. Over the past autumn, such incidents have been reported in Poland, Germany, Romania, Denmark and Belgium, raising serious concerns about the continent's air and infrastructure security.

In this context, the European Commission has floated the idea of ​​creating a “drone wall,” an initiative aimed at protecting European airspace from new technological threats. However, the concrete framework of this project has not yet been defined.

The European Union aims to build on the experience of Ukraine, which has been facing continuous drone and missile attacks for more than three years, by developing new methods of defense and technological countermeasures.

Meanwhile, Poland has announced that it is preparing for concrete steps. Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz stated that Warsaw is close to signing a contract to build the largest anti-drone system in Europe, a project that is expected to play a key role in the new security architecture of NATO and the EU.

These measures demonstrate a clear orientation of the Alliance towards automated and integrated defense, in response to the new security challenges posed by hybrid warfare and the massive use of unmanned technologies in modern conflicts.

The Geo Post