Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and the United Kingdom are launching a new initiative, LEAP (“Low-Cost Effectors and Autonomous Platforms”), to rapidly co-develop and produce affordable and effective air defense systems, primarily against drones.
This was announced by German Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius during a press conference of the “European Group of Five” (E5) defense ministers in Krakow on Friday.
“Alongside supporting Ukraine, of course, we are constantly focused on improving our own defense capabilities. Here, among other things, the new LEAP initiative will play an important role. We are taking from our British friends the initiative to develop and procure so-called low-cost effectors and autonomous platforms. The idea is simple: we want to quickly and inexpensively develop innovative systems, especially for drone defense, and then produce them in large quantities just as quickly,” Pistorius said.
He added that leading defense companies from the participating countries are expected to be involved in the project. The minister described the initiative as a potential model for other areas of defense cooperation.
“To do this, we want to involve the best companies in our countries. And yes, this is something new, not like before. But as the ‘Group of Five,’ we have set ourselves the goal of pursuing such paths more often. And if LEAP proves successful—which we are all confident it will—this could become a model for other areas,” the German minister stated.
