- The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced its entry into a new European project to develop a new surface-to-air weapon
- A lightweight, affordable weapon is needed to down uncrewed air systems (UAS) and missiles
- UK entry comes ahead of the postponed Defence Investment Plan (DIP), which will provide a cost breakdown for its strategic ambitions
The UK Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, Luke Pollard, revealed plans to collaborate with European partners to develop new weapons systems while the government continues to stall the long awaited DIP.
At the European Group of Five meeting on 20 February in Krakow, Britain along with France, Germany, Italy, and Poland launched the Low-Cost Effectors & Autonomous Platforms initiative, also known as LEAP.
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The new partnership will develop a number of different weapons systems. Already, partners have committed to developing a lightweight, affordable and artificial intelligence-driven surface-to-air weapon to counter the growing number of UAS and missile threats by 2027.
The UK leans on seven medium range Sky Sabre systems as its primary air defence capability. Currently, 16 Regiment Royal Artillery, under 7 Air Defence Group, operate two of these in the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic, while the other five units provide what limited coverage they can across the UK for home defence.
Last year, the government announced plans to increase the number of Land Ceptor launcher units.
As well meaning as Britain’s LEAP accession may be, particularly given the profilerated UAS threat across the continent throughout 2025, the UK is currently financially hamstrung amid ongoing budget battles between the Treasury and the MoD.
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By GlobalDataDIP delay
The DIP is intended to provide a cost breakdown for all the MoD’s programme ambitions recommended by reviewers in the Strategic Defence Review published in June last year.
A £1bn ($1.35bn) Digital Targeting Web, £15bn production of sovereign nuclear warheads and an unlimited number of variously attritable drones are among the capabilities promised.
But since the repeated DIP delay, all priorities are now in question. Even Parliamentarians cast doubt on the British share of the Global Combat Air Programme, which one UK Defence Committee member compared to the government’s cancellation of the TSR-2 aircraft programme in the 1960s.
It is no secret that UK allies are frustrated with the rhetoric and piling commitments of British Government officials which have no wherewithal to back their plans according to reporting from Politico during the Munich Security Conference.
With no transparent allocation of funds for any programme until the DIP is released – which some anticipate to come in March, without any public confirmation – a commitment to an entirely new weapons programme is questionable, and delivering it by 2027 uncertain.
However, the UK has demonstrated agility in procurement in the past. Under the previous Conservative government, the MoD delivered the new Archer wheeled artillery system in just six months following their integrated acquisition reforms. Although, the howitzer existed prior to UK interest, first entering Swedish service in February 2016; it was already a proven system, unlike the first LEAP project.
