October 18 (SeeNews) - Moldova is considering the acquisition of air defence system components and will receive military drones from Germany next year, defence minister Anatolie Nosatii said.
Although the amount of defence spending in Moldova's 2023 draft state budget is higher compared to previous years, the country cannot yet afford an anti-aircraft defence system, Nosatii said during a talk-show broadcast by Radio Moldova on Monday.
Moldova plans to allocate to defence 1.47 billion lei ($76 million/78 million euro) next year, representing 0.5% of the projected 2023 gross domestic product (GDP), compared to 0.3% in 2022, data posted on the finance ministry's website showed.
"This is a very complicated and expensive system. Even with the increase that is foreseen for defence, this would be a long-term purchase. In this sense, we are working towards harmonizing the legislation on multi-annual purchases," Nosatii added. "Previously, all the purchases were made in a short term and in a very small volume, and there was no talk of missiles or planes. In this sense, without assistance from foreign partners, it will be difficult to obtain this kind of capability."
On October 10, Moldova's defence minister announced that three Russian cruise missiles targeting Ukraine had crossed its airspace, endangering the country's infrastructure and, in particular, civilian aircraft flying in its airspace. The Romanian defence ministry also confirmed that the Russian missiles flew over Moldova. According to Nosatii, Russia does not admit to have violated Moldova's airspace.
Moldova has means of monitoring this type of events such as radars, but lacks means of interception and does not have the capacity to react, Nosatii added. "In order to intercept an aerial target, plane or missile, another missile or a fighter plane are needed for shooting down the target," he explained during the radio talk-show.
Nosatii also said that Moldova is due to receive military drones from Germany in the first quarter of 2023, as announced by German federal defence minister Christine Lambrecht earlier this month.
In May, European Council president Charles Michel said that the EU plans to 'significantly increase' military support for Moldova in the context of the Russian invasion of neighbouring Ukraine. In April, Moldova's president Maia Sandu said that Moldova needs to make serious financial and logistical efforts to build a professional, modern and well-equipped military in order to be able to face the many security challenges in the region.
(1 euro=18.9325 lei)