NATO wants thousands of AI drones guarding its borders — but there’s one thing they won’t be allowed to do

Will AI have a say in the kill chain?

by · TechRadar

News By Christian Cawley Published 20 August 2026

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter

  • NATO is planning to fortify the border with Russia and its allies with a network of sensors and drones, with AI assistance
  • The Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative will track threats along the NATO borders with Russia and Belarus
  • The strategy mirrors the steps taken by Ukraine to bolster its defenses against Russian aggression

NATO’s concerns about its border with Russia and Belarus have grown into plans to deploy sensors and drones along 3,500 kilometers, with an AI element to assist in threat detection and tracking.

Known as the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative, the AI will be used to control fleets of drones, but the AI’s role in the kill chain will not involve decision-making.

Instead, human operators will be given the final say on whether a drone can strike a target.

Latest Videos FromTechRadarWatch full video here:

Millions of drones

The plans follow a similar approach in Ukraine, where the borders with Russia and Belarus are closely observed by AI-managed drones. But the move towards AI looks set to evolve the procedural kill chain into a kill web, where information provided by drones and sensors with AI oversight is provided to a human operator for a decision.

The Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative (EFDI) is a fully fledged operation, complete with a data backbone, for which US Army Maj. Ben Schiff is the product manager. The EFDI Data Backbone is described as a “digital ‘nervous system’” for the project, which connects not just the sensors and drones but also satellites and the information systems of NATO members.

Automation of the drones is mainly concerned with the “boring” jobs, like hovering over target areas to detect incursions. But the drones don’t attack unprompted. Instead, this is brought to the human operative for the final decision.

“So the humans are deciding what the drone does, but they don't necessarily need to take the action of flying it because we don't have a million pilots,” said Schiff. “We can't fly a million drones at the same time.”

Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed!

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors