Italia, Germany, France, Poland and UK in the field to develop low-cost drones: here's how

Italia, Germany, France, Poland and the UK - the five European countries with the largest defence spending - are taking the field to develop low-cost drones. At the end of the summit of the defence ministers of the E5 countries held in Krakow on Friday 20 February, Polish minister Wladysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced the LEAP (Low-Cost Effectors and Autonomous Platforms) initiative, i.e. the signing of a commitment "for the joint development of strike capabilities with drones, low-cost shared production and shared procurement of drone effectors'.

British Defence Minister Luke Pollard spoke of the 'multi-million dollar commitment made by every E5 member to enhance technology. This is the first step for the E5 nations working together to change the economics of warfare, because collectively we have some of the best equipment on the entire planet to shoot down air threats,' he said. 'The problem is being effective in shooting down missiles, drones and other relatively low-cost threats that we face. We need to make sure that the cost of defence is commensurate with the cost of the threat,' he said.

LEAP, it is explained, will see the development of advanced low-cost air defence systems, such as autonomous drones or missiles, with the first project to be delivered by 2027, offering an unprecedented opportunity to harness European funding, leadership, artificial intelligence and autonomy in the defence sector.

Its first target will be a new surface-to-air weapon: a lightweight, affordable weapon designed to counter the threat of drones and missiles. Rather than long development cycles, and inspired by Ukraine's battlefield innovation, the programme will prioritise speed and adaptability. LEAP will gather proposals from leading defence manufacturers and small and medium-sized enterprises.

The five allies, reads a note, confirmed that they are implementing the commitments to increase defence spending made at the NATO summit in The Hague: 'We support a real increase in the production capacity of the European defence industrial base. We need shorter lead times, greater standardisation and lower prices for key categories of armaments in order to build Europe's lasting resilience. We welcome the EU's commitment to provide member states with more fiscal flexibility for defence spending and to create lending instruments.