Lithuania has begun testing the Ukrainian-developed SkyFortress airspace monitoring system to detect low-flying drones and other aerial threats. The pilot deployment is intended to strengthen the first layer of the country’s air-defence chain by improving early detection and tracking before interception, the defence ministry said in Vilnius.
SkyFortress uses artificial intelligence to detect and track low-flying drones and cruise missiles through acoustic or electromagnetic signatures, and can classify objects in real time. Lithuania is adapting a system already in use in Ukraine rather than building a new one from scratch, citing rapidly changing airborne threats.
The test phase will assess how well the system can detect and identify low-flying unmanned aircraft in Lithuanian conditions. The contract, signed in the summer, also covers sensor-data processing, digital acoustic and radio-frequency signature libraries based on unclassified data, and training for personnel. Public details on procurement value, sensor numbers and a final rollout timetable have not been disclosed.