Britain has signed a joint defence agreement with France, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands to develop shared drone defence capabilities, drawing inspiration from Ukraine’s highly effective domestic drone manufacturing programme.

The agreement, announced at a security conference in London, commits the five nations to pooling research, sharing intelligence on drone threats, and jointly developing counter-drone technologies for critical infrastructure protection.

“The threat landscape has fundamentally changed,” said UK Defence Secretary John Healey. “Ukraine has shown both the offensive potential and the defensive challenges of drone warfare. We need to be ready.”

The plan includes provisions for rapid procurement of counter-drone systems, joint training exercises, and the establishment of a shared drone threat intelligence centre.

Military analysts said the agreement represents a notable deepening of UK-EU security cooperation despite the political complexities of post-Brexit relations.