Europe Races to Build Cheaper Missiles

The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East have exposed a fundamental weakness in Europe’s armed forces: limited stocks of sophisticated and expensive weapons that can be depleted faster than the defense industry can replace them.

Nighttime attacks involving hundreds of drones have also highlighted the economics of modern warfare. Using costly systems such as Patriot to intercept relatively cheap drones can quickly drain both ammunition stocks and military budgets, prompting European governments to search for cheaper alternatives.

Analysts argue that major wars are not won by “miracle weapons” alone, but by quantity and the industrial capacity to mass-produce weapons and ammunition.

Defense startups including Destinus, Cambridge Aerospace, Frankenburg and Ukraine’s Fire Point are developing a new generation of lower-cost missiles and interceptors designed to complement more advanced air-defense systems. The aim is to bring the cost of destroying drones and other aerial threats down from millions of dollars to a fraction of that amount.

While companies are investing heavily in supply chains and preparing to manufacture thousands of missiles, Europe still faces a major challenge: certifying new weapons quickly enough and building the industrial capacity to produce them at scale.

(Reuters, max)