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According to the new coalition agreement, national defense and security continue to be one of the main topics, and the acquisition of ammunition is considered important, as well as, for example, increasing the number of the defenders of the state.
The agreement states that the coalition's goal is to raise awareness among the people of Estonia about what to do in the event of various crises and what each person's options are for taking action if necessary.
According to the government, to ensure Estonia's security and crisis resilience, it is necessary to ensure changes in the legal space, maintain existing capabilities, and fill capability gaps across sectors.
"An integral part of broad-based national defense is both people's awareness of what to do in the event of a threat and the state's readiness to prevent threats in both the physical and digital worlds and, if necessary, to resolve them decisively and quickly," it is said in the agreement.
In the broad-based national defense plan, the coalition, in addition to what was previously discussed, envisages, for example, that a knowledge center for the crimes of communism and imperialism will be established in Tallinn's Patarei sea fortress next year.
It is planned to continue to support Estonia's independent media outlets and NGOs to combat disinformation and prevent its spread.
The government believes that weapons, ammunition and other military equipment are an important part of Estonia's defense capability, but equally important are the state's defenders, including a sufficient and qualified composition, early warning and intelligence, logistics and other capabilities that can be developed.
Therefore, to ensure the next generation of active duty non-commissioned officers and officers, admissions to the Estonian Military Academy will be increased, and drone training will also be added to the national defense curriculum in schools. To this end, the project "Individual drone kits for every school that provides national defense training!" will be launched.
As previously announced, at least 5 percent of GDP will be invested in national defense, with which existing defense capabilities will be developed and new ones created. The government promises to implement the necessary procurements and developments without delay until 2029, and all large-scale procurements starting from 200 million euros will be presented to the national defense committee of the Riigikogu for an opinion.
The government considers the acquisition of weapons, including deep fire, indirect fire, and other equipment, the development of electronic warfare capabilities, the development of engineer capabilities, and the establishment of the Estonian section of the Baltic defense zone as priorities for the Army.
For the Air Force, strengthening short-range air defense, expanding medium-range air defense, initiating the creation of long-range air defense capabilities, including ballistic missile defense, integrating electronic warfare into air defense, and implementing a rotational air defense model in cooperation with allies are considered particularly important.
According to the agreement, the Navy must extend the service life of existing naval vessels and replace those that have exceeded their service life with new multifunctional vessels. The government also considers it important to establish an underwater surveillance capability.
Across the military branches, the aim is to supply and acquire ammunition worth at least three billion euros by 2029, strengthen intelligence and early warning, command and survivability of the defense forces, and increase the wartime composition of the defense forces to 50,000 fighters. Currently, the wartime composition of the defense forces totals more than 43,000 positions.
In addition, a joint crisis reserve of internal security and safety agencies, including a civil protection reserve, will be created, involving volunteers working in the field, former internal security employees, and reservists and retired military personnel.
"We will continue to build out the eastern border. We will complete the land border infrastructure and create technical surveillance capabilities in those places where it was decided to postpone the construction of border infrastructure in 2019 and 2020 as part of austerity measures. We will cover the entire Narva River with technical surveillance," the coalition agreement states.
In the first quarter of 2027, the developments of the first phase of the drone wall will be completed to ensure the security of the eastern border, and for this purpose, initial drone detection capabilities will be created on the eastern border and in four major Estonian cities.
"We will provide the police officers of the Police and Border Guard Board and the Prison Service with the military training necessary for border protection and will acquire the necessary weapons to protect the eastern border. We will create a crisis structure and ensure integration into the wartime structure of the defense forces," the agreement states.
As Minister of the Interior Igor Taro shared at the government press conference, the Emergency Act will be amended to establish a clear legal framework for managing civil protection under the leadership of the Rescue Board and to regulate the organization of threat notification, sheltering, and civil protection training.
To this end, extensive online training on civil protection will be launched, the completion of which is mandatory for employees of the public sector and vital service providers.
Additional shelter options will be created to protect residents by supporting the establishment of new public and non-public shelters.
Bureaucracy will also be reduced to ensure security, for example when applying for and renewing a weapons permit, which is planned for the end of 2026.
"We will expedite the development of a bill of amendments to the Weapons Act, which will introduce the necessary changes, and in the longer term, we will prepare the full text of a new Weapons Act," the agreement states.