Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion enables sustained missions in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) by utilizing the residual atmosphere as propellant, thereby eliminating onboard propellant storage and enabling continuous drag compensation in dense orbital regimes. At the Institute of Aerospace Engineering at TU Dresden, research focuses on the development of a dedicated ground test facility and a cathodeless plasma thruster. The facility is designed to reproduce representative VLEO particle fluxes in terms of density, velocity, and species composition within a vacuum chamber, including diagnostics capable of resolving fast neutrals with target velocities of approximately 8 km/s. In parallel, an inductively coupled plasma thruster operating on atmospheric air is being developed, targeting a thrust efficiency of 25 %. The design is supported by coupled global and one-dimensional modeling, while complementary simulations optimize the neutral beam source to better replicate realistic VLEO conditions. Experimental validation is scheduled for later this year.