Estonian here. All baltic states started discussing it about 20 years ago. It was clear that this had to be done, as after re-independnce there has never been times where russia isn't a direct threat. In 2022 when war in Ukraine started, Baltic states also prepared for possibility that Russia will simply disconnect. Without all infrastructure done yet, it wouldwe been chaos for us for several weeks. Happy that we can finally do this move for our national security.
Even if not pre-alpha, building a browser needs deep domain knowledge. But on the other hand, after some time you will be rewarded with very, very useful knowledge of how the web actually works.
The start would be pretty rough but if your daily work lacks the challenge then I would encourage you to try contribute :)