Europe's five largest defence powers are teaming up on a multi-million-euro project to bring low-cost air-defence systems such as autonomous drones or missiles into production within 12 months, ministers meeting in Krakow, Poland, said on Friday (20 February).
The war in Ukraine has shown how autonomous interceptor drones can provide an effective alternative to costly air-defence missiles and Kyiv's European allies are keen to learn from its experience.
The European Group of Five Defence Ministers brings together top military spenders France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain.
The ministers met as European leaders seek to boost defence capabilities amid growing doubts about Washington's commitment to protecting the continent.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Friday that a European version of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance of English-speaking countries was being considered as a way to respond more effectively to threats posed by Russia.
Speaking at the meeting in Krakow alongside his counterparts from Poland, France, Britain and Italy, Pistorius said discussions were ongoing.
"What can we do next? One idea could be to consider a joint tanker fleet or multi-domain task force, or even a European version of Five Eyes," he said.
"It's a multi-million pound, multi-million euro commitment ... to step up this technology," Britain's Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard said.
"We're really hopeful that this will produce an effector that... will be in production within 12 months."
In military terminology, “effectors” are the components of a system that produce a physical effect, while “autonomous platforms” are unmanned systems capable of independent decision-making.
The 'Low-Cost Effectors and Autonomous Platforms' initiative, known as LEAP, focuses on developing advanced low-cost air-defence systems, including autonomous drones and missiles.
The first project is expected to be delivered by 2027, the UK government said in a separate statement.
"We have just signed a very important commitment on the joint development of drone-based strike capabilities, low-cost, joint production, and joint procurement of low-cost drone effectors and payloads," Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
"This is the challenge of our times - technologies are changing... and we must respond very quickly."
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Sixty-five-year-old Halyna Popriadukhina has fled her home three times as Russian troops have marched deeper into eastern Ukraine during four years of war. Tired of running, she hopes Ukraine can somehow hold them back.
Ukraine could export several billion dollars of military equipment and services this year after authorising its first wartime foreign sales, a senior government official said. The country is also considering introducing a tax on arms exports.
Hungary has suspended diesel fuel deliveries to Ukraine with immediate effect and will not resume shipments until crude oil transit via the Druzhba pipeline is restored, said Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
U.S.-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine in Geneva ended after two days of negotiations that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as difficult, while signalling progress on the military track.
Israel is preparing for the possibility of receiving a green light from the United States to launch strikes against Iran’s ballistic missile system, according to Israel’s public broadcaster KAN.
Aghdam’s Qarabag FK experienced a 6–1 defeat to England’s Newcastle United in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off tie in Azerbaijan's capital Baku Wednesday evening (18 February).
U.S. President Donald Trump’s 'Board of Peace' will hold its first leaders’ meeting on Thursday (19 February) in Washington, D.C., launching an initiative aimed at stabilising Gaza and addressing global conflicts. It's drawn support from regional powers but refusals from several EU countries.
The Board of Peace will be "looking over the United Nations," said U.S. President Donald Trump at the inaugural Washington meeting, where representatives from over 20 countries gathered to unveil plans for Gaza’s reconstruction and coordinate international support.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez in the Kremlin on Wednesday, telling him that new restrictions imposed on the communist-run island were unacceptable.
The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down President Trump's sweeping tariffs on Friday (20 February), which he imposed under a law intended for national emergencies.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reaffirmed Russia’s support on Friday (20 February) for the negotiation process between Washington and Tehran amid escalating regional tensions.
Relations between Russia and Japan have effectively collapsed due to Tokyo’s “unfriendly” stance towards Moscow, the Kremlin said on Friday (20 February), adding that there is currently no dialogue aimed at concluding a peace treaty.
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