"A large upcoming issue is acquisition and regulation of drones in the airspace," the ministry's Political Director Vaidotas Urbelis told BNS.
In his words, transfer and certification of such unmanned aircraft have become even more important after Germany in May scrapped a contract for drones estimated at hundreds of millions of euros. The argumentation used by officials in Berlin was that the certification process would have doubled the price.
"Currently, every country is re-certifying the production of military industry produced or acquired in a different country. This is the problem. Transfer of technology is an even bigger problem, given that it involves third countries, in this case, the United States. Efforts are being made to solve the certification matter. It is crucial," Urbelis said.
"European countries have to sit together and agree on the policies. Without doubt, drones are the future," he said.
On Wednesday and Thursday, EU political directors in charge of defense also discussed preparations for the informal meeting of defense ministers planned for September and possible EU Council discussions in December, as well as EU operations and partnerships.
Informal meetings of defense political directors are held every six months in a country holding EU presidency. Lithuania took over EU presidency from Ireland on July 1.
