To protect against Russia: five European countries to launch a project for the mass production of inexpensive drones
21 February 19:06
The heads of the defense ministries of Britain, Italy, Poland, France, and Germany, which make up the E5 group, created after Donald Trump was elected US president in November 2024, signed a statement on the joint production and procurement of small, inexpensive drones and components for them. The agreement was reached as part of NATO’s strategy to strengthen its defense capabilities against Russian provocations in the air, Politico writes, as reported by "Komersant Ukrainian".
“The participants of the E5 meeting signed a commitment to develop strike capabilities using drones, low-cost joint production, and joint procurement of effectors [combat payloads] for drones,” said Polish Defense Minister Vladislav Kosiniak-Kamysz following the meeting in Krakow. He also noted that the initiative, called LEAP (Low-Cost Effectors and Autonomous Platforms), will take into account Ukraine’s experience in repelling Russian air attacks.
“The introduction of AI into unmanned systems is spelled out in our declaration. We are talking about entire systems, not individual platforms,” the minister said. The goal of the program is to provide an effective response to the increasing number of violations of European airspace.
In 2025, there was a series of air incursions into NATO territory, ranging from Russian fighter jets over Estonia to a group of dozens of drones that invaded Polish airspace. Although NATO neutralized the threats, its command was criticized for the costly deployment of multimillion-dollar fighter jets to shoot down UAVs worth thousands of dollars.
The point is to “[learn] how to effectively shoot down relatively inexpensive missiles, drones, and other threats we face,” said UK Deputy Defense Minister Luke Pollard following the E5 meeting. “We need to make sure that the cost of the threats matches the cost of defense,” he stressed, adding that the initiative to use drones involves new multi-million dollar investments by E5 member countries.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, European Union Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallas, and NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Šekerinska also participated in the conference in Krakow via video link. In addition to the drone program, the parties discussed key issues of security and cooperation in Europe: support for Ukraine, the development of arms production and industrial capabilities, countering hybrid threats, and others.
