Estonia Plans €15 Million Military Base to House 1,000 Troops Near Russian Border

Estonia’s State Center for Defense Investments (RKIK) has launched a public procurement tender for the design and construction of a new military base in the eastern border city of Narva, ERR reported on July 13.

The planned defensive facility is estimated to cost approximately €15 million ($16.3 million). It will span an area exceeding 7,500 square meters and comprise 12 buildings alongside specialized engineering structures.

According to RKIK Northeastern Regional Project Manager Ando Voogma, the qualification phase of the procurement has already commenced, with the final price-proposal round expected to conclude in the spring. Voogma indicated that construction is projected to begin by late spring or early summer, noting that the exact timeline depends entirely on the progression of the administrative bidding process, ERR wrote.

The military camp will be situated in the Kadastiku district, intentionally mapped away from Narva’s residential sectors to minimize local disruption. Currently, the state owns one-third of the designated land, while the remaining two-thirds belong to the municipality. To facilitate the project, local authorities are finalizing a land-exchange agreement and updating the city’s general spatial plan.

As reported by ERR, Narva Mayor Katri Raik noted that the municipal council is reviewing the planning framework during its scheduled January 22 session, explaining that the city must first request specific plots for the exchange before the construction phase can officially proceed.

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The initiative to establish a permanent military presence in Narva was finalized last year as part of a broader strategic effort to fortify Estonia’s border security, increase state presence, and reinforce the defense capabilities of the frontier region. According to official defense frameworks cited by ERR, the base is designed to accommodate up to 1,000 military personnel on a rotational basis once operational.

This deployment will include both Estonian defense forces and international allied units, integrating the border infrastructure directly into NATO’s regional deterrence framework.

The procurement for the Narva military facility follows the recent expansion of allied command-and-control infrastructure along NATO's eastern flank. Under a joint initiative, Germany and the Netherlands established a unified military command center in the Estonian border town of Valga.

Operating as the tactical headquarters for the First German-Dutch Corps, the center is designed to coordinate all alliance units and national land forces across Estonia and Latvia to optimize regional defensive readiness and streamline collective deterrence maneuvers.

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