Foreign defense companies can now test their newest weapons in Ukraine, according to a new program launched on Thursday.
Brave1, a defense technology incubator supported by the Ukrainian government, announced the "Test in Ukraine" initiative , where allied governments could hand over prototypes of drones, loitering munitions, naval drones, electronic warfare systems and AI-driven products for testing on the battlefield.
In exchange, Brave1 would return with a detailed report on how it performed on the battlefield and suggest any additional real-time changes that would have to be made.
Participants of the program would also be matched with a Ukrainian manufacturer working on a similar technology for "co-production and faster deployment".
"We're ready to help companies from partner countries develop, test, and refine technologies that actually work on the battlefield," said Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister of digital transformation, in a press release.
This is a chance to gain experience that simply cannot be simulated in a lab.
Ukraine gets involved with EU arms rearmament efforts
Brave1's announcement comes after a series of recent initiatives to bring Ukrainian defense tech startups into the broader EU rearmament effort.
Last week, the incubator announced the BraveTechEU partnership, which will see up to €100 million split between Brave1, the European Defence Fund (EDF), and the EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS) to build new technologies by funding defence hackathons, investor matchmaking and research.
The EU also activated a €150 billion "SAFE" loan instrument that allows countries to borrow money for joint defense projects. At least 65 percent of the weapons' components must be sourced from within the EU or Ukraine.
It launched a joint EU-Ukraine Force on Defence Industrial Cooperation to integrate Ukraine into the "defence-tech ecosystem".
Ukraine also signed a €67 million deal with Denmark to let their defense companies build their designs on Danish soil, which is the first of its kind.
Major European defense companies, including Sweden's SAAB, Norway's Kongsberg, Franco-German KNDS, Germany's Rheinmetall, and the US's Raytheon, are reportedly expanding their presence on the ground, according to a June press release from Ukraine's Ministry of Defence.
Still, experts previously told Euronews Next that Ukraine should be included in "common planning" with the EU, as they are able to provide comments and criticisms regarding conventional weapons that make up a large part of their procurement strategies.
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