UK leads Europe with contracts for low-cost air defence systems

UK leads Europe with contracts for low-cost air defence systems
MOD has awarded £3.16 million to three companies to counter drone threats, becoming the first European partner to act under a joint defence programme.
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The Ministry of Defence has awarded £3.16 million to three suppliers to develop low‑cost interceptors designed to shoot down drones.
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The programme is part of a five‑nation European effort to counter large‑scale drone and missile threats.
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Contracts will support jobs across SMEs based in Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Bristol and Stevenage.
The Ministry of Defence has awarded £3.16 million to three suppliers to develop new low‑cost interceptors designed to shoot down drones and other airborne threats. The UK is the first of five European partner nations to award contracts under a joint programme to strengthen air defence.
These interceptors are designed to provide a more affordable way to counter drones. This is increasingly important as countries begin to use large numbers of cheap, mass-produced drones that can overwhelm traditional air defence systems, which are more expensive and slower to produce. In March 2026, Russia launched the equivalent of more than 200 drones per day into Ukraine, highlighting the scale of the challenge.
The programme, called Low‑Cost Air Defence Effectors (LCADE), is being delivered by the National Armaments Director (NAD) Group as part of a wider European effort known as Low‑Cost Effectors and Autonomous Platforms (LEAP).
LEAP brings together five countries – the UK, Poland, France, Italy and Germany – to develop affordable effectors and autonomous systems. Each country is running its own national competition, to be followed by a multilateral phase, with the aim of stimulating growth across the European defence industry, enhancing collaboration and delivering solutions to our nations’ warfighters.
The programme supports the NAD Group’s mission to strengthen the UK’s defence capabilities by working closely with industry, speeding up innovation and delivering equipment faster. It also supports jobs and manufacturing in the UK, while working with international partners to develop solutions that can be produced at scale and used by allied forces.
The three successful companies are Frankenberg Technologies, Greenjets and Cambridge Aerospace, who will now develop and trial their designs. All are small or medium‑sized businesses. Cambridge Aerospace has only recently been identified to the Ministry of Defence, demonstrating the value of widening access to new market entrants. Each has a UK presence and has committed to building manufacturing capability in the UK, helping to support jobs across all SMEs and contribute to regional economic growth.
The contracts were delivered by Commercial X, a NAD Group team tasked with accelerating the pace of procurement and reducing barriers to entry to smaller companies to get groundbreaking innovation to the frontline, faster. They have been responsible for getting suppliers rapidly on contract to deliver the Government’s hypersonic and directed energy weapons programmes, as well as recently signing contracts worth up to £4 million with 13 future British ‘unicorns’.
The next phase will focus on identifying solutions that can potentially be produced in large numbers across the five partner nations. This will require strong manufacturing capacity and reliable supply chains to ensure the systems can be delivered quickly and at scale.
National Armaments Director Rupert Pearce said:
With the award of these contracts, Commercial X and the LCADE programme are demonstrating the powerful, low-cost capabilities we can deliver when we open up Defence and collaborate with some of the UK’s most agile, innovative companies. Through the LEAP programme, we are joining forces across borders to rapidly procure new systems, supporting both the UK and our allies against the growing mass drone threat.
Anmol Manohar, Chief Executive Officer for Greenjets, said:
We are extremely proud to have been awarded this contract under LCADE and to be demonstrating the role innovative British businesses can play in rapidly strengthening national defence capabilities. We look forward to working with the MoD and our partners as we move into demonstration trials later this year.