Brave1, the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of Digital Transformation launch air-to-air missile and Ukraine's radar grants
The Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, together with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Brave1, is launching grant competitions to develop guided air-to-air missiles and Ukrainian radars.
The next step will be a grant competition for turbojet engines. The Brave1 grant program is intended to help manufacturers develop new solutions to counter air threats.
Minister of Defence of Ukraine Evgeniy Khmara announced this in an address to manufacturers participating in the Brave1 defense innovation cluster.
The new competitions aim to provide the Security and Defence Forces of Ukraine with effective means to counter air targets, reduce the cost of intercepting jet-powered drones, and develop Ukrainian radar production.
Grant funding will become one of the tools to support solutions that can be scaled up to meet the needs of the Security and Defence Forces.
Countering air threats is the top priority
Evgeniy Khmara emphasized that the main russian threats currently include ballistic missiles, cheap cruise missiles, high-speed drones, and guided aerial bombs.
The Ministry of Defence expects Ukrainian manufacturers to develop their own navigation solutions, strengthen electronic warfare (EW), create radars to detect low-observable targets, and build affordable systems that can be scaled up in production.
Our requirements are clear: effectiveness, affordability, interoperability between systems, and sufficient supply volumes. The joint work of the state, the military, and Ukraine’s defense industry must focus on these results.
Brave1 is also working to identify and test other technological solutions for the Defence Forces of Ukraine. The Ministry of Defence and Brave1 previously conducted large-scale testing of drones with AI guidance.
New solutions to counter russian glide bombs
Another task the Minister of Defence set for manufacturers is to find new solutions to counter guided aerial bombs (KABs) and reduce their effectiveness.
Today, our focus is on countering russian threats. But it is important to create innovative solutions that will allow us to act proactively and prevail. We need an asymmetric effect. We need technologies that change the rules of the game in our favor.
