Malta must not be blind from the sky

Brussels Airport was forced to close temporarily last week after drones were sighted nearby. The disruption affected around 3,000 passengers travelling with Brussels Airlines with the carrier saying it incurred considerable costs from flight cancellations and diversions.

The Brussels drones incident followed a series of similar incidents in other European countries that disrupted air travel. Fingers have been pointed at Russia over what is being described as hybrid warfare. Russia denies these accusations.

Drones are easy to deploy, difficult to detect and almost impossible to track down their controller, who could be many miles away. They are a menace in their own right without the need to be armed.

A drone flying close to an airport is enough to cause air travel chaos. Apart from the safety and security issues an incident like this raises, it also causes economic disruption. The financial impact is immense when considering the relatively cheap means used to create it.

The Belgian incident, like that in Denmark several weeks earlier, posed a direct threat to civilian infrastructure.

Belgium subsequently asked for military assistance with the UK and Germany saying they will deploy personnel and equipment to support the country with anti-drone measures.

The incident does raise serious question marks as to the preparedness of European countries, including Malta, to deal with this relatively new form of threat coming from the skies.

This is one area of defence that Malta must not neglect. A drone threat targeting Malta’s only airport does not necessarily have to come from a hostile country; it could be a criminal group, a rogue individual, or even someone wanting to make a clamorous prank. Defence and security may not be priority issues in a country where many believe neutrality is an invisibility cloak that provides protection from the outside world.

The Israeli drone attack on a humanitarian aid ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists just outside Malta’s territorial waters earlier this year was a stark reminder of how exposed we could be. Even if Malta was not a target, there is nothing that prevents other actors from settling their scores in Maltese territory—the murder of Palestinian activist Fathi Shqaqi in Malta in 1995 by agents from Israeli intelligence agency Mossad is a case in point.

Within this context, the threat posed by drones is not something that can be brushed aside easily. Recently, a retired army officer commented that “being a small state doesn’t mean you should accept being blind from the sky”. He is right, especially when considering the impact, a single event could have on a country that is dependent almost exclusively on air travel for its connections with the outside world.

Malta has little in the way of air defences. The few weapons it does have are aged and ineffective against drone threats. Over the years, there has been minimal investment in detection systems that can provide early warning.

Whether Malta should opt for complete air defence autonomy or invest in basic capabilities, while leaning on European partners for high-end needs is a strategic choice that can only be made with facts and studies in hand.

Malta needs to carry out a security and defence review that takes note of the current state of affairs and maps out different scenarios with possible investment options and trade-offs involved in every scenario.

The government often prides itself in having invested in the Armed Forces of Malta by way of collective agreements that have improved pay packets for soldiers and officers. While this is commendable because it ensures better remuneration, on its own it’s not enough to strengthen Malta’s defence capabilities. More investment is required in hardware and training but this needs to be done intelligently and in such a way that can be sustained going forward.

It is useless pouring millions of euros in lavish hardware, which turns out to be too costly to maintain because of limited capabilities and lack of interoperability.

This is why a strategic review is required before a 10-year investment plan is drawn up with short-term goals to fill in critical gaps and medium to long-term goals for a comprehensive reorganisation of the army as a security and defence force capable to anticipate, detect and suppress threats to national security.

In all this, greater participation in the EU’s defence programmes and mechanisms will ensure Malta benefits fully from the support of fellow member states whenever the need arises.