- The Ministry of Defence has awarded £3.16 million to three
suppliers to develop lowcost interceptors designed
to shoot down drones.
- The programme is part of a fivenation European
effort to counter largescale drone and missile threats.
- 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 lowcost 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 LowCost Air Defence Effectors
(LCADE), is being delivered by the National
Armaments Director (NAD) Group as part of a
wider European effort known
as LowCost 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 mediumsized 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.
