Lithuania to teach thousands, including schoolchildren, how to build and pilot drones

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania’s government said Tuesday it plans to open nine drone training centers over the next three years to teach thousands of people, including schoolchildren, skills in flying and building the machines.

Drones have become increasingly common in everyday life and warfare in recent years. Lithuania’s project aims to strengthen the public’s abilities in drone control and engineering and “expand civil resistance training,” its defense and education ministries said in a statement.

Lithuania, a NATO member country of about 2.8 million people on the alliance’s eastern flank, borders both Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave and Moscow-allied Belarus, and is aware of possible threats to its security.

The first three drone centers are due to open in September and the remaining six by 2028. The plan is for 15,500 adults and 7,000 children to be taught drone skills by 2028, Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė said.

The government said the program will be adapted to different age groups. Third- and fourth-grade students will learn to build and pilot simple drones while high-school students will design and manufacture drone parts and learn how to build and fly advanced “first-person view” drones. It plans a total investment of more than 3.3 million euros ($3.8 million).