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Europe’s five largest defence spenders announced a joint programme on Friday to develop low-cost drones and autonomous platforms, drawing on Ukrainian battlefield experience from nearly four years of Russia’s all-out invasion.
Defence ministers from Poland, France, Germany, Italy and the UK met in Krakow to launch the Low-Cost Effectors and Autonomous Platforms (LEAP) initiative.
Ukraine’s Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov joined the meeting via video link, alongside EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Šekerinska.
The programme aims to develop cheaper alternatives to expensive air defence missiles for shooting down drones, as Russia’s war in Ukraine has shown how autonomous interceptor drones can be a cheap and effective tool against aerial threats.
“We are implementing the experience from Ukraine and developing our industrial potential in a dynamic way. Europe has woken up,” Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said at a press conference after the meeting.
Drone warfare revolution
Kosiniak-Kamysz said unmanned systems have revolutionised warfare in Ukraine, changing operational planning for many armies.
He noted that drones are continually modernised rather than bought “for stock”, with AI now integrated into drone systems.
“Technologies and combat techniques are changing dynamically, we need to respond quickly and adequately,” he said.
UK Minister for Defence Procurement Luke Pollard said the five nations needed to match the cost of threats with the cost of defence.
“We have some of the best kit on the entire planet for shooting down air threats. The problem is to be effective at shooting down relatively low-cost missiles, drones and other threats facing us,” he said.
NATO summit preparation
The ministers are preparing for the NATO summit in Ankara, with one more E5 meeting scheduled before the gathering. Kosiniak-Kamysz said the summit would focus on assessing NATO’s military capabilities.
“Just as in The Hague we decided on the level of spending, in Ankara we will discuss and present specific capabilities,” he said.
French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin emphasised the importance of Polish infrastructure for supporting Ukraine, particularly the logistics hub in Rzeszów.
“We all know that we need to strengthen the European dimension of security, especially in view of the next Ankara summit,” Vautrin said.
Friday’s meeting was the seventh gathering of E5 defence ministers since 2024.
