# Estonia's defense minister floats light jets against Russia's jet-powered drones, Defense News reports
Martin Herem, who commanded Estonia's Defence Forces until 2024, named no aircraft type, budget or timeline, and has not committed to buying anything.
Published 2026-10-14 by TGOs. Canonical: https://tgos.io/news/2026/10/14/estonias-defense-minister-floats-light-jets-against-russias-jet/
Estonia's new defense minister, Martin Herem, said the country should consider buying light jet aircraft to shoot down Russia's faster, jet-powered attack drones, Defense News reported Wednesday.[1] Herem told The Baltic Sentinel and the daily Postimees that Estonia should study the option, calling air-to-air weapons the most effective counter to the drones, according to Defense News. He spoke after meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.[1][2] Herem took office Sept. 16 after leading the Estonian Defence Forces from 2018 to 2024 and then advising defense industry companies.[3]
Estonia, like Latvia and Lithuania, has no fighter fleet of its own and relies on NATO allies policing its skies on rotation, Defense News reported.[1] Herem pointed to the pilots, air-control expertise and L-39 trainers Estonia already has.[1] Estonia uses two of them, at Ämari air base.[1][4] They are leased, and a former head of Estonia's air force said in April that their civilian status and lease terms would complicate arming them, according to the outlet.[1]
Jets are one option on a longer list. Herem told The Baltic Sentinel he is also looking at computer-controlled cannons, heavy machine guns and fast, jet-powered interceptor drones, Defense News reported.[1] Jet-powered drones fired at Ukraine rose from a few hundred to several thousand a month between July and August, the outlet reported. Ukraine's defense ministry puts their speed at more than 400 kilometers per hour.[1]
## Why it matters
Neither Latvia nor Lithuania has floated buying jets of its own, though Latvia is considering Embraer's A-29 Super Tucano, a light turboprop fighter, for air-defense missions, Defense News reported.[1] Both are funding cheaper counter-drone layers, and NATO planners have repeatedly called heavy fighters against small drones disproportionately expensive.[1] A ministry study or a budget line naming aircraft would be the first sign that Herem's idea has become an Estonian requirement.[1]
*Clarification, October 25, 2026:* We updated the link to the Defense News report. The report is dated Oct. 14, 2026, and the brief is unchanged.
## Sources
1. Defense News: Estonia weighs buying light jet aircraft to shoot down Russian jet-powered drones (Oct. 14, 2026)
2. Estonian Ministry of Defence: Herem in Kyiv: Ukrainian experience will help develop Baltic Defence Line (Oct. 11, 2026)
3. Estonian Ministry of Defence: Minister of Defence
4. Estonian Defence Forces: Air Force