On Saturday, the largest indoor drone training center in the Baltic countries, called Drone House, opened in Riga. The new complex is created on the territory of the Latvijas Finieris enterprise in Sarkandaugava and is intended for training schoolchildren, youth soldiers (jaunsargu), and students, as well as for the training of security and defense services, reports TV3 News.
The center is located in premises covering several thousand square meters and on an adjacent open area of about two hectares, where a training ground with trenches, bunkers, and technical structures is planned for the future to develop tactical drone management skills.
"We produce drones, but who will operate them? There are almost no training centers. In Zemessardze, we train in a few places across Latvia, but in Riga, where most of the population lives, there are no flying opportunities. The idea is to think not only about the military but also about the future generation. The Ukrainian experience is coming to us faster than to other NATO countries, and therefore we want to accumulate this experience here, where military and civilian engineers, inventors, and developers can work together and immediately test what can be tested in an urban environment," noted Viesturs Silenieks, a board member of the organization Drone Force Europe.
In the future, a simulator classroom, separate rooms for engineers, assemblers, and designers, as well as special zones for training sappers on the use of drones in mined areas and in combat conditions in populated areas are also planned.
"It is time for all of us in Europe to learn and do everything possible – both from government institutions and from businesses – to develop these technologies and truly prove in practice that we understand what we are doing," emphasized senior expert of the NBS on international military-religious affairs Elmars Plavins.
The center will become one of the first in Latvia to provide controlled airspace, and visitors will be registered and monitored in accordance with security requirements.
"This is of great importance for the future both in terms of security and overall state development. Through military technologies, economic advantages for the country are also developed in the future," pointed out Raimonds Bergmanis, chairman of the Saeima Defense Committee.
According to the project organizers, in the future, up to 10,000 people – from schoolchildren to professional drone operators – can be trained here.
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