The BALTDEFCOL’s Dean, Dr Zdzislaw Sliwa acted as a Chairman during the conference ‘Integrated Air & Missile Defence Eastern Europe. Combatting the Regional Airborne Threat: Integration, Collaboration and Modernisation’. The conference took place in Poland, Warsaw on 26 and 27 July. The aim of the conference was: to enhance understanding of the collective and individual airborne threats facing Eastern European nations, to investigate the technological solutions and operational methods to mitigate the vulnerabilities that ‘low, slow and small’ threats expose and to discuss upgrading air and missile defence architecture in Eastern Europe to meet current and future mission requirements.

The host nation address, covering Poland’s plans to upgrade national Air Defence architecture, was delivered by Colonel Tomas Jakusz, Chief GBAD Specialist, Air and Missile Defense Department of the Polish Armed Forces General Command. He was followed by the keynote address presented by Major General Shamko Viacheslav, Chief of Staff & First Deputy Commander of the Ukraine Air Force focused on Ukrainian experiences when facing air threat during a conflict in the country including the role of UAVs. The conference comprised the sequence of briefs and two discussion panels.

The conference was an important forum for representatives from ministries of defence from the Eastern Europe to present their perception of threats and ongoing and future projects to facilitate them. Moreover, speakers from NATO, US Army Europe, US Naval Forces Europe Africa highlighted their contribution to the East European security. Speakers from military industry companies, including Raytheon, Rafael, Weibel, introduced new capabilities offered by them to enhance air defence capabilities. The conference was an important opportunity for networking and for exchanging experiences between customers and capabilities providers.