NATO's drone problem, can European industry close the gap

Introduction: a threat that has become an everyday reality for NATO

Incidents piling up on European soil

A drone crashed into a house in Romania, another violated Lithuanian airspace, and Munich airport had to suspend operations for several hours after a suspicious sighting, all recent incidents that show, according to Euronews, just how much the drone threat has become a daily challenge for NATO.

This investigation, conducted around the second AIRCOM Industry Day recently held at Ramstein air base in Germany, examines whether the European defense industry can genuinely close its technological gap with Ukrainian innovation in combat drones, a central topic at the NATO summit in Ankara.

Why this investigation favors facts over reassuring slogans

Rather than giving in to standard talking points about Western technological superiority, this investigation directly questions the soldiers, engineers, and entrepreneurs on the ground to understand where Europe genuinely stands in this decisive technological race.

The goal isn't to needlessly dramatize a Western weakness, but to honestly document the real progress and the persisting gaps that remain in NATO's ability to counter the growing threat of cheap drones.

The core problem: the disproportionate cost of anti-drone defense

Drones under 100,000 euros versus fighter jets worth millions

The heart of the problem identified by Euronews is brutally simple: some drones are produced for under 100,000 euros, while a single emergency scramble of a NATO fighter jet to intercept a drone can cost tens of thousands of euros per hour, with a typical two-aircraft interception exceeding 85,000 euros before a single missile is even fired.

This glaring economic asymmetry means that every drone incursion, even without confirmed hostile intent, imposes a disproportionate financial cost on NATO, an imbalance the "Eastern Sentry" operation illustrates every time it's triggered to track or neutralize a suspicious aircraft.

General Guillaume Thomas acknowledges "collective challenges"

Lieutenant General Guillaume Thomas told Euronews that the drone war confronts NATO with "collective challenges," pointing directly to the mass of drones Russia deploys in its war against Ukraine as a benchmark for the scale of the problem to anticipate.

This official acknowledgment of a collective challenge, rather than a reassuring denial, is itself an encouraging sign: NATO isn't publicly downplaying the scale of the problem, a necessary transparency for mobilizing the industrial and financial resources needed to respond effectively.

What Ukraine is teaching NATO about radar detection

The real obstacle isn't interception, it's reliable detection

Ukrainian Second Lieutenant Oleksandr Vorobiov explained to Euronews that the biggest obstacle to fully automating interceptor drones in Ukraine remains reliable radar detection: "the radars we mainly use in Ukraine weren't designed to detect this type of drone. They're weather radars, hunting radars, practically every type of radar except ones specifically designed for these drones."

According to Vorobiov, if the radar loses track of a drone for just ten seconds, the interceptor aircraft then has to be flown manually during that period, which prevents full automation of the process and considerably slows reaction times against swarms of enemy drones.

A gap that neither Europe nor the United States has yet closed

Asked who has the capability to solve this reliable-detection problem, Vorobiov answered with striking honesty: "maybe Europe has that capability, maybe the United States has it, I don't know," an answer that shows just how uncertain even the most experienced Ukrainian soldiers on this issue are about the optimal technological solution.

This gap shared among Western allies is precisely the kind of collective challenge that stronger cooperation between NATO and Ukraine could help solve faster than each side working in isolation.

Cooperation with Ukraine, presented as a necessity rather than an option

Working with Ukrainians, a "requirement" according to an expert

Researcher Dr. Ulrike Franke told Euronews that working with Ukrainians is now a "requirement" for effectively countering the drone threat, a position that reflects growing recognition within NATO itself that the real combat experience Ukraine has gained since 2022 represents an irreplaceable strategic resource.

According to Franke, drones "have brought mass to the battlefield," forcing the entire alliance to fundamentally rethink its air defense doctrine, traditionally centered on expensive equipment, toward an approach now favoring volume and cost over sheer individual technological sophistication.

European companies already active on Ukrainian soil

The company Alta Ares, which specializes in artificial intelligence-powered software and systems for surveillance and counter-drone operations, told Euronews that its two co-founders were already in Ukraine at the start of the war and worked closely with Ukrainian units to understand their needs firsthand on a constantly evolving battlefield.

Second Lieutenant Vorobiov confirmed it was "good" that European companies were present on Ukrainian soil, while honestly acknowledging that this presence came "a bit late" relative to his country's immediate needs since the start of the conflict.

European industrial solutions already in development

Rheinmetall's Skyranger 30, a concrete, quantified answer

Rheinmetall's Skyranger 30 air defense system, which now integrates a specialized anti-drone missile developed by MBDA to counter mass drone attacks like those using Shahed or Geran models seen in Ukraine and the Middle East, illustrates a concrete European industrial response to this challenge.

Each Skyranger 30 carries nine missiles, and a battery of six vehicles can field 54 interceptors ready to fire, with a 30-millimeter cannon; the first systems, destined for the German brigade stationed in Lithuania, are due to be delivered between 2027 and 2028 according to information gathered by Euronews.

European demand already outpacing available industrial supply

An Alta Ares representative summed up the current state of the European anti-drone defense market in one revealing line: "there isn't enough supply. There will be too much demand," an assessment shared by more than 30 competitors showcasing their own systems at this event in Ramstein, alongside roughly 35 companies in total.

This announced supply shortage against growing demand is an encouraging signal for the European defense industry: it points to a rapidly expanding market that could drive greater investment and innovation in the years ahead, provided European governments back this momentum with firm, predictable orders.

The strategic importance of artificial intelligence in this race

Cutting decision time, the number one priority according to Aselsan

Turkish manufacturer Aselsan told Euronews that the main lesson drawn from Russia's war against Ukraine is reliability: "the system has to be reliable. When the target is heading toward you, you only have a few seconds to decide and act. The system needs to use artificial intelligence to cut decision time."

This emphasis on AI-assisted decision speed shows a clear technological convergence between Ukrainian military needs and the development priorities of major European and Turkish defense manufacturers, an alignment that could significantly speed up the adoption of shared solutions within the Atlantic alliance.

An Ankara summit that must turn investment into real capability

According to the Atlantic Council, the NATO summit in Ankara aims precisely to determine how to translate the billions already invested in defense spending into genuine operational capabilities on the ground, rather than mere theoretical budget commitments slow to materialize concretely.

It's this transition from budget promises to real industrial deliveries that will ultimately determine whether NATO actually manages to close its gap with the fast, low-cost innovation that now defines modern drone warfare.

The crucial role of the Turkish and German defense industries

Industrial cooperation that crosses traditional borders

The notable presence of Aselsan, the Turkish defense manufacturer, alongside German giants like Rheinmetall and Hensoldt at this event in Ramstein, illustrates transatlantic and intra-European industrial cooperation that now crosses traditional national borders to collectively respond to the drone threat.

This collaboration between companies from several NATO member countries, including Turkey, which will host the Ankara summit, symbolically strengthens the alliance's industrial unity against a technological challenge no single country could reasonably solve alone.

Lieutenant Colonel Bott highlights the limits of the current acquisition process

Lieutenant Colonel Steffen Bott told Euronews that neither the military nor NATO itself enters into direct contractual relationships with defense companies at these industry days, but he acknowledged that "military needs are evolving much faster than the acquisition and procurement processes designed to meet them."

This institutional admission reveals a bureaucratic gap just as significant as the technological lag itself: even if industry manages to produce the necessary solutions, NATO still needs to radically speed up its own approval processes so these innovations reach the field in time.

What the Ankara summit must concretely deliver to be convincing

Moving from financial commitments to firm orders

According to Brussels Signal, the main goal of the NATO summit in Ankara is to turn the billions already promised in defense spending into genuine firm orders with industry, rather than mere budget commitments that risk remaining dead letters for additional years.

This pressure for concrete results reflects a growing awareness among Western leaders: without firm, predictable orders, the European defense industry won't be able to justify the production-capacity investments needed to meet demand that already exceeds current supply.

A credibility test for the entire Atlantic alliance

This summit represents a major credibility test for NATO: after years of talk about the need to modernize its air defense against drones, the alliance will have to show in Ankara that it can turn these intentions into verifiable, measurable commitments in the months following the summit.

It's this shift from words to concrete action that will ultimately determine whether the West manages to turn its current vulnerability to drones into a lasting demonstration of industrial and strategic strength.

Conclusion: a real gap, but a credible Western mobilization

Collective clear-sightedness that is already a strength

This investigation, conducted at Ramstein and documented by Euronews, reveals a nuanced but generally encouraging picture: the European defense industry is still genuinely lagging behind Ukrainian drone innovation, but it is now mobilizing considerable resources, growing technical expertise, and a stated political will to close that gap before the NATO summit in Ankara.

This collective clear-sightedness, openly acknowledged by officers like Guillaume Thomas and frontline soldiers like Oleksandr Vorobiov, is in itself a valuable strategic strength for the Atlantic alliance, far more useful than a reassuring speech that would have masked the real scale of the challenge to overcome.

A historic opportunity for Western industrial rearmament

The combination of European demand already outpacing available supply, strengthened cooperation with Ukrainian combat experience, and targeted technological investment in detection and interception artificial intelligence, outlines the contours of a historic opportunity for industrial rearmament across the entire West.

It remains to be seen whether the Ankara summit will manage to turn this promising momentum into concrete, deliverable commitments, rather than yet more statements of intent that would only further delay a response that is already urgent against a threat that, itself, keeps intensifying every week on European soil.

By Maxime Marquette, columnist

Columnist's transparency note

How I built this investigation

I'm neither a soldier nor a defense systems engineer, and I approached this technical story with the humility it demands. This investigation was written from Euronews's reporting at the AIRCOM Industry Day in Ramstein, as well as other verifiable public sources on the NATO summit in Ankara, all cited below. Nothing was invented beyond what these sources report.

My acknowledged biases and this piece's limits

I firmly believe in the need for Western rearmament against the threats posed by Russia and its allies, a bias I fully own in this investigation with its resolutely pro-defense angle. I cannot, however, guarantee that the Ankara summit will produce sufficient concrete commitments: that uncertainty remains entirely open at this stage.

Sources

Primary sources

NATO's drone problem: Can European industry close the gap? — Euronews, July 4, 2026

Factbox: NATO defense spending ahead of Ankara summit — Anadolu Agency

Secondary sources

Ukraine drone deals with seven NATO countries by end of year — The Guardian, July 6, 2026

From burden sharing to strategic delivery — Atlantic Council

What defense leaders will discuss at the 2026 NATO summit — Forbes, July 1, 2026

NATO will seek to turn defence billions into firepower at Ankara summit — Brussels Signal, July 3, 2026