Revonia has installed a 100m² community shelter in Kaunas in a single day, as Estonian civil defence expertise finds its export market in Lithuania.
The Baltic states have invested significant resources in strengthening their security posture, rearming, and building new civilian infrastructure. Estonian expertise comes in handy, now going on an export spree. This May, Revonia, an Estonian manufacturer of concrete modular shelters, has completed the installation of a 100-square-metre community shelter in Kaunas, Lithuania — the company’s first contract with a foreign municipality and a marker of growing export momentum for Estonian civil defence expertise.
The project involved ten large precast concrete modules produced at Revonia’s factory in Estonia, transported to Kaunas and assembled on-site in a single day. The completed shelter, covered with a soil layer that integrates it into the surrounding environment, can accommodate over a hundred people. It has been installed near a school, where it will be incorporated into the curriculum to prepare pupils for emergency situations. Two purpose-designed entrances allow rapid, orderly entry without the need for additional personnel on the ground.
The Kaunas unit is the first of several planned installations and is part of a broader effort by Lithuanian municipalities to provide physical protection for residents in densely populated areas.
More than just a shelter
Revonia’s product range runs from standard residential cellar modules to blast-door-equipped professional shelters and, at the top end, bunkers engineered to withstand a nuclear strike — priced upwards of €100,000. That range is underpinned by rigorous testing: the company has worked with Estonian and Lithuanian universities and conducted live blast trials alongside the Estonian Defence League (Kaitseliit) and the Lithuanian Armed Forces, yielding certified protection ratings across its product line. Those credentials are widely considered to have been decisive in securing the Lithuanian contract.
Experience from Ukraine has further validated the modular concrete approach. In peacetime, such structures function as bus shelters or park amenities; under threat, they protect lives. It is a dual-use logic that is gaining traction with municipal planners across the region.
A DefenceTech exporter in the making
Revonia fits into a new pattern: Estonian companies building specialised capability at home, then finding that capability in demand well beyond their borders. The firm has been operating for twelve years, has installed more than 2,000 units across residential, recreational, and protective uses, and received the Riigikaitse nurgakivi (National Defence Cornerstone) award in recognition of its contribution to civil preparedness.
“We have the technical capability, we have tested and certified products, and we see clear demand for physical security. A shelter isn’t built for a few years — its calculated lifespan is a hundred years,” says CEO Rauno Oja. Just recently, the company won a spotlight by delivering 80 underground concrete homes to a new resort in Finnish Lapland.
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