Estonia Advances Plans for Armed Robotic Ships on Russian Border

Estonia is pressing ahead with the development of an autonomous robotic vessel designed to patrol its eastern waterways along the Russian border, marking a new step in the country’s use of AI for national security amid rising hybrid threats.

The Gaze reports on it with reference to Baltic Sentinel.

The initiative, spearheaded by the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), is expected to culminate in the deployment of an unmanned surface vessel (USV) within two years. 

The ship will patrol key strategic areas such as the Narva River and Lake Peipus, both of which demarcate the border with Russia. 

Equipped with advanced surveillance systems and potentially supported by artificial intelligence, the vessel is intended to enhance Estonia’s capacity to detect threats and respond to emergencies without placing personnel at risk.

PPA officials confirmed that a public tender for the vessel’s design and construction will be launched shortly. 

The project, backed by over €1 million in European Union funding, is part of a wider innovation package supported by Estonia’s Ministry of Finance.

Estonian startup MindChip, a spin-off of Tallinn Technical University (TalTech) with prior experience in building autonomous vessels, is among the leading candidates expected to bid for the contract. 

The company’s CEO, Heigo Mõlder, told local media that their AI-based systems enable autonomous navigation and object detection but stressed that weaponization, if pursued, would remain strictly under human control. “The idea is not to replace humans, but to enhance awareness and reduce risks at the border,” Mõlder said.

The initiative comes in response to increasing Russian provocations, including a 2024 incident when Russia’s border guards unilaterally dismantled 25 Estonian navigation buoys from the Narva River. 

Estonia later announced it would not reinstall the buoys, citing the risk of escalation. Since then, Estonian authorities have reported an increased presence of heavily armed Russian FSB boats in the area.

Another Estonian firm, DefSecIntel Solutions, together with Baltic Workboats, has already developed EUROMITE, a modular unmanned vessel tailored for coastal surveillance and anti-ship operations. The design incorporates lessons learned from Ukrainian military innovations and is slated for testing in Ukraine.

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