Open for testing: inside NATO's new uncrewed testing range in Latvia

Speeding up procurement has become a defence priority. However, a faster pipeline is only useful if testing and evaluation can keep pace, and right now, the structures in place are not keeping up.

In countries such as Germany, France, and the UK, for example, strict regulatory limits on equipment testing at facilities slows the path from development to the warfighter. Tests can take many months to get underway, if at all.

Beyond slowing development and adoption, these limits affect industry too. Companies, especially smaller firms, need access to testing ranges to improve, iterate, and ensure their technology remains operationally relevant.

To address this, NATO is launching new ‘Innovation Ranges’, as part of its Rapid Adoption Action Plan unveiled in June 2025. The ranges are intended to help member states and allies accelerate testing, experimentation, and adoption of innovative technologies, the organisation says.

Five testing ranges are being established across Europe, each focusing on a different technology area. These include:

• Latvia – uncrewed systems
• Estonia – cyber and IT solutions
• Finland and Sweden – resilient and secure next-generation connectivity technologies
• Italy – undersea systems and maritime technologies
• Netherlands – autonomous maritime capabilities and seabed security in shallow-water environments

Latvia’s Sēlija testing range

Latvia is the most advanced of these ranges, having already organised several “campaigns” this year, Claudio Palestini, the Head of Innovation and Technology Adoption at NATO told DSEI Gateway during the International Drone Summit in Riga, Latvia on 27 May.

This allows companies to test their equipment in operational environments closer to those seen in Ukraine.

Testing approval can be secured within days, according to Major Modris Kairišs, head of Latvia's Autonomous Systems Competence Centre, which oversees the range.

While NATO has access to the range, it is not exclusively for its use. Nevertheless, “we are glad to share this opportunity to our partners, to NATO, because in this context we need more companies in NATO and in the EU to be ready for some aggression,” Kairišs emphasised.

May testing campaign

The range’s inaugural testing campaign took place in March 2026, while the second iteration was held between 25-29 May, witnessed by DSEI Gateway and other media.

During the May campaign, at least 20 companies, from startups to SMEs, attended, demonstrating their drones and counter-drone systems, including sensors and jammers.

Origin Robotics (Latvia), Nordic Air Defence (Sweden), and Jet Drones (Germany) were some of the companies participating.

More than 10 different scenarios took place, with each increasing in complexity. The first scenario saw two first-person view (FPV) drones from Latvian SMEs Eraser and DK Unity fly complex manoeuvres.

Essential for companies 

Sēlija testing range is essential to help smaller companies test their equipment, Daniel Jacobs, a flight engineer at Jet Drones told DSEI Gateway.

The startup had a “great experience” at the range, he said, adding: “we love it, we can fly high and wide and have no regulations.”

With only five testing campaigns allocated to NATO members and their companies each year, Latvian firms have a significant advantage – easy access to a range that allows them to develop and iterate operationally relevant technologies.

This could, in turn, spur the development of a domestic, uncrewed systems industrial cluster. Origin Robotics is already demonstrating its relevance across borders, with Belgium, Estonia, and now France – as of June 2025 – acquiring its Blaze interceptor drone.

For companies outside the ranges’ host nations, access to the testing facilities remains under negotiation. According to Palestini, however, the intention is clear: "the spirit is NATO will maintain these calendars across all the ranges" before engaging member states for input on priorities.

Testing troubles

Companies that have participated at the Latvian range have encountered problems of their own, however.

During one trial, more than 90 electronic warfare counter-drone companies “failed in the tests”, the head of Latvia’s autonomous systems centre, Kairišs, said.

It's “not their fault”, Kairišs added. Until recently, these companies have had little opportunity to test their systems properly. Drones are also around two or three steps ahead of counter-drone systems.

More to do

The May trial appeared broadly successful, though much of the technology on display was relatively similar, with only incremental differences between systems. Kairišs flagged this too, noting that “Europe has the technology” but must now integrate these capabilities effectively for cohesive drone and counter-drone defence.

Despite this, the range represents meaningful progress under the Rapid Adoption Action Plan. But significant constraints remain for testing and evaluation. While Latvia is loosening its regulations, testing of aerial platforms, electronic warfare systems, and other emerging technologies is still limited across much of the alliance, and not every SME or startup will be able to access these facilities.

More work is needed to relax national testing regulations and expand access to the ranges to enable the rapid procurement of equipment that delivers for the warfighter.