“Estonia understands the importance of defence investments, which is why our defence spending in the coming years exceeds 3% of GDP,” Tsahkna said. “Adding the US security assistance to our own defence budget, we can reinforce our independent defence capabilities sooner than planned.”
The financing bill adopted in US Congress on Friday includes $228 million in security assistance to the Baltic States. The funds are allocated from the Baltic Security Initiative (BSI) created in 2020 to develop the independent defence capabilities and interoperability of the Baltic States. In recent years, the BSI support that comes from the budget of the Defence Department has been increasing. The exact sum allocated to Estonia from the $228 million will become clear this autumn.
In addition to the BSI, the US is also supporting its Allies, including Estonia, through the State Department’s Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programme. This year, the US has allocated $47.3 million to Estonia through the programme. Estonia mainly used 2022’s record $140.5 million FMF tranche for acquiring HIMARS multiple rocket launchers.
“Financial security assistance from the US has considerably contributed to the development of Estonia’s defence capabilities and building the necessary infrastructure,” Tsahkna said. “Considering the consistent rotation of US troops in Estonia together with the financial assistance, we can safely say that the Allies understand the security challenges of our region and are ready to contribute to ensuring the security of our state and people in various ways. Estonia highly appreciates it.”
