Estonia Defence Week: Out of the line of fire

The first Defence Expo in Tallinn is strongly influenced by the war of drones. Remote-controlled vehicles and weapons are to replace soldiers in the combat zone.

Sep 26, 2025 at 12:41 pm CEST

6 min. read

c't Magazin

By

Arne Grävemeyer

Estonia Defence Week in the Estonian capital of Tallinn culminated in the Defence Expo on Wednesday and Thursday, 24 and 25 September. The majority of the innovations on display related to the drone war currently raging in Ukraine and a so-called Drone Wall on NATO's eastern border. A second main topic is automated or remote-controlled land vehicles. A surprising novelty emerges here, which could also be seen in civilian traffic in Germany in the future.

Sten Gavronski from Baltic Defence Service on a Manul cUAV, which can also be remote-controlled using Telearmy technology.

In the case of the Estonian company Telearmy, even the term “dual use” is ambiguous. The company equips different vehicles with a remote control that can be transmitted frontally via different channels, such as the 5G network, radio, or a Starlink connection, depending on which channel is available at the time. For this purpose, the engineers equip the vehicle with two to six cameras and access its electronic control system. In difficult cases, the solution can also be a mechanical system that operates the steering wheel and pedals. The operator either sits at a stationary control panel or uses a mobile control unit. This is housed in a robust hard-shell case and essentially consists of a screen and a joystick.

Dual use means that a driver can still get behind the wheel in the conventional way and control the vehicle as usual. However, it is also possible to remotely transport supplies to the front line or bring wounded soldiers into the rear from a safe distance. Dual use also means that the technology has long since found its way into civilian life. In Estonia, for example, there are already car-sharing vehicles and taxis that come to your front door by remote control. Partner Elmo Teledriving has been operating such vehicles in Estonia since 2022 and plans to launch a vehicle in Heidelberg in the coming weeks.

Servo on the trigger

Estonian start-up Atalanta has unveiled a new remote-controlled platform for various assault rifles, for jammers that cut off drones from their communication channels, and even for portable armour-piercing grenade launchers and as a mount for air defence. The remote weapon station called Toxon can be rotated 360 degrees at 90 degrees per second, and its elevation angle can be adjusted as required. Daylight and infrared cameras not only give the shooter a good view; the system also recognizes potential targets independently and can track selected targets, such as approaching drones. This allows the shooter to pull the trigger from a protected position. The system could even be used on remote-controlled vehicles.

With near-field and wide-field lenses, laser distance measurement and infrared sensors, the Shark system from Marduk can monitor the sky at a wide angle, detect, categorise and track objects.

Many companies are developing solutions for a future Baltic Drone Wall, i.e., drone defence on the eastern border of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, or for an Eastern Shield (NATO's eastern border in the Baltic states and Poland). This starts with the Estonian company DefSecIntel, which offers mobile command centers in the form of vehicles with screens, radar, cameras, and control software. The company is also working on defence drones against attacking drones.

The Estonian start-up Marduk Technologies has developed camera systems that combine near-field and wide-field cameras, as well as laser distance measurement, night vision, and event cameras that respond to movements in the observed airspace. The special feature: Thanks to the wide-field cameras, these systems cover a viewing angle of 16 degrees. These camera systems can scan the sky independently on their servo platform, detect intruding drones, and track targets selected by the operator.

Small guided missiles instead of rockets

In Ukraine, attempts are currently being made to combat many incoming drones with expensive missile systems that were originally designed for use against long-range missiles. This is a costly solution against the cheap drones used or even against dummy drones.

In future, guided missiles could be the cheap alternative for drone defence and could be produced relatively quickly in large quantities, says Kusti Salm from Freudenburg Technologies.

(Image: Erlend Štaub)

The Estonian company Frankenburg Technologies is currently developing and testing simpler guided missiles with a range of around 2 kilometers. These rocket-propelled weapons are much faster than drones and have already been trialed in over 50 live tests, including detection and camera-based autonomous targeting. They could soon be produced in relatively large quantities, as Frankenburg CEO Kusti Salm explains to c't. The company is planning to set up production in Estonia by 2026, with the capacity for several hundred missiles per month.

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Many drone systems at the stands are designed to transport explosives to their target or drop mines. As jamming protection, small quadcopters from the Estonian company Meridien can carry a spool weighing 2.5 kilograms, from which up to 15 kilometers of glass fibre can be unwound. This allows the small drone to be remote-controlled to the target but not jammed.

The young Estonian start-up Mindchip equips boats with autonomous controls. They can attack as large torpedoes or go on peaceful cruises, explains CEO Heigo Mölder.

(Image: Erlend Štaub)

Various boats, for example from the Estonian company Mindchip, can sail out autonomously under control and carry several hundred kilograms of explosives, but can also patrol a coastal area, for example. The control unit can also be installed on new ships to carry out standardized test runs. The start-up mentality of the Baltic country is proving to be innovative and flexible.