New anti-drone capabilities will be available if needed as part of security arrangements for Ireland’s presidency of the EU in the second half of next year, the Minister for Defence is expected to announce on Thursday.
It is understood Helen McEntee will say a budget of €19 million will be provided for a counter unmanned aerial system to be procured for the Defence Forces. The aim is to have the system available to the Defence Forces by the middle of next year.
The Minister’s announcement is due as gardaí continue trying to determine where the drones were launched from during the visit of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week and who was behind the incident.
Ms McEntee will on Thursday announce defence projects that will be funded under the €1.7 billion sectoral investment under the Government’s revised National Development Plan for 2026 to 2030.
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The key project in the defence sectoral National Development Plan will be the introduction of a new military radar system that sources in Government said could cost up to €500 million.
The target date for the full delivery of the military radar programme is set for 2028. However, the new anti-drone initiative will essentially represent the first stage of this project.
It is expected that the new plan to be launched by the Minister will say that when the overall military radar system is fully in place, it will deliver further counter unmanned aerial system capability.
It is understood that under current plans, a single counter unmanned aerial battery would be deployed to the airbase at Baldonnel in west Dublin, which will play a key role given the number of foreign leaders and politicians expected to visit Ireland in the second half of 2026 when the State holds the EU presidency.
It is expected the new plan will say that capital investment in Defence over the period 2025-2030 will be directed at providing additional military capabilities across land, air maritime and cyber domains.
The Irish Times understands other projects to be funded under the Defence National Development Plan will include underwater sonar equipment (known as subsea domain awareness), which is considered vital to detect potential threats to cables and pipelines on the sea bed.
The plan will allow for the acquisition of new light and medium helicopters for the Air Corps, the replacement of the existing eight PC-9M turboprop trainer aircraft fleet, new armoured personnel carriers, and night vision equipment for the Army.
Additional money will be allocated for the provision of improved accommodation for personnel as well as for investment in infrastructure and to deal with critical IT and engineering requirements.
