---
title: "Estonia still vulnerable to high-altitude Russian jets"
id: "82225"
type: "post"
slug: "estonia-still-vulnerable-to-high-altitude-russian-jets"
published_at: "2025-09-26T08:54:19+00:00"
modified_at: "2025-09-26T08:54:20+00:00"
url: "https://estonianworld.com/security/estonia-still-vulnerable-to-high-altitude-russian-jets/"
markdown_url: "https://estonianworld.com/security/estonia-still-vulnerable-to-high-altitude-russian-jets.md"
excerpt: "Estonia remains unable to bring down Russian aircraft flying at higher altitudes, security analyst and former defence undersecretary Meelis Oidsalu has warned after three MiG-31s […]"
taxonomy_category:
  - "Security"
publisher: "Estonian World"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Silver Tambur"
author_url: "https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/"
---

# Estonia still vulnerable to high-altitude Russian jets

![After the Russian MiG-31s left Estonian airspace, Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighters intercepted and monitored them over the Baltic Sea. Photo by the Swedish Air Force.](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/G1OY8K3X0AAQlKC-1024x676.jpg)

After the Russian MiG-31s left Estonian airspace, Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighters intercepted and monitored them over the Baltic Sea. Photo by the Swedish Air Force.

By  [Silver Tambur](https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/)
  ·  September 26, 2025  · [Security](https://estonianworld.com/category/security/)
 · 2 minutes of reading

### Estonia remains unable to bring down Russian aircraft flying at higher altitudes, security analyst and former defence undersecretary Meelis Oidsalu has warned after three MiG-31s crossed Estonian airspace on 19 September.

When three [Russian MiG-31s cut across Estonia’s airspace](https://estonianworld.com/security/estonia-calls-for-nato-article-4-talks-after-russian-jets-stage-brazen-airspace-violation/)
 on 19 September, they did so at 7.5 kilometres – well above the reach of Estonia’s current air-defence systems.

“That’s the usual altitude for such incursions,” wrote Meelis Oidsalu, Estonia’s former defence undersecretary, in a public post. “Even if we placed systems on Keri Island, they still wouldn’t reach.”

The gap is obvious. Estonia can swat away drones or low-flying aircraft, Oidsalu argues, if readiness is properly organised. A Soviet-era 23-millimetre gun – still capable of firing 400 rounds a minute – is well suited for unmanned targets. But stopping fighters at altitude will require the IRIS-T, a medium-range surface-to-air missile system built by Germany’s Diehl Defence.

The version Estonia has ordered is the IRIS-T SLM – the “Surface Launched Medium” variant, designed to hit targets up to 40 kilometres away and at altitudes of around 20 kilometres. Deliveries, once expected sooner, are now scheduled for next year, with extra launchers provided as compensation for the delay. “It’s a serious capability,” Oidsalu says. “But the limitation is that none of these systems are on permanent combat duty in peacetime. To make them effective, you need to mobilise reservists – or add a combat component to conscription, as General Martin Herem, a former commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, has suggested.”

[https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/diehl_iris-t_missile_diehl-defense_1.jpg](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/diehl_iris-t_missile_diehl-defense_1.jpg)

Estonia has ordered the IRIS-T SLM – the “Surface Launched Medium” variant, designed to hit targets up to 40 kilometres away and at altitudes of around 20 kilometres. Photo by Diehl Defense.

Until then, Estonia relies on NATO’s air-policing fighters, dispatched under the command centre in Uedem, Germany. They can intercept at any altitude, apart from very low-flying drones that evade radar. The radar network itself, Oidsalu notes, is always watching – though its raw imagery remains classified.

When foreign minister Margus Tsahkna showed a straight flight path [at the UN on 22 September](https://estonianworld.com/security/estonia-confronts-russia-at-un-after-brazen-airspace-violation/)
, Oidsalu dismissed it as “a schematic strat-comm slide – nobody flies that straight.” The real picture, he hints, is both messier and more sobering: Estonia can see Russian violations. It just cannot yet stop the highest ones on its own.

## About The Author

![Avatar photo](https://estonianworld.com/wp-content/uploads/local-avatars/2/1572652467-bpfull-100x100.jpg)

[Silver Tambur](https://estonianworld.com/author/silver/)
Silver Tambur, co-founder and publisher of *Estonian World*, studied journalism at the University of Tartu and politics at Birkbeck, University of London. He has edited Estonian Public Broadcasting’s English news and contributed to *Business Sense*, *Deutsche Welle*, and *Radio New Zealand*. He is currently editor-in-chief of *Trialoog*, TalTech’s business and research portal. You can also follow him on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/SilverTambur)
 and like [his page on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/silvertamburpage/)
. You can write to Silver at [silver@estonianworld.com](mailto:silver@estonianworld.com)
.