Mapping European Enterprises and Technologies for Low-Cost Counter-UAS

Russia’s persistent drone incursions are designed less to cause physical damage than to probe the cohesion and endurance of Western defense. Each low-cost drone launched by Moscow forces NATO states to mobilize expensive missiles or fighter sorties, reinforcing a cost-exchange imbalance that risks undermining the sustainability of European defense commitments.

The challenge is no longer only technical—interceptors can be built—but fundamentally economic and political. Unless Europe fields affordable counter-UAS systems that can restore cost parity, parliaments and publics will increasingly question the logic of devoting millions to neutralize threats worth a fraction of that amount.

This analysis answers: Which European enterprises and technologies can field low-cost counter-UAS systems against persistent drone incursions? How does the cost-exchange imbalance between cheap drones and expensive interceptors reshape the counter-UAS challenge? Which actors and capability gaps constrain Europe's ability to restore cost parity in counter-drone defence? What economic, political and policy measures are needed to sustain affordable counter-UAS commitments across Europe?