Joint defence: Ukraine and JEF countries join forces on military technology
Ukraine’s Enhanced Partnership with the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) has great potential. The country is ready to deepen it in a number of areas.
Minister of Defence of Ukraine Evgeniy Khmara said this in an address to participants in the JEF meeting.
The head of the Ministry of Defence thanked all the participating countries for their support.
Ukraine is ready to build a mutually beneficial partnership with you. We need it. So does the security of our region. And of the entire continent. Our shared future lies in this partnership.
The Minister of Defence set out specific areas for deepening the partnership between Ukraine and the JEF.
Ukrainian solutions that work in real combat
Evgeniy Khmara stressed that Ukraine’s experience overlaps directly with the JEF mandate. That mandate covers countering UAVs and hybrid threats in the Baltic and North Atlantic regions, as well as protecting undersea infrastructure and countering Russia’s shadow fleet.
We see how Russia uses drones for reconnaissance, sabotage and strikes on infrastructure. And we have already built solutions that work in real combat.
The Minister of Defence noted that Ukraine has built solutions that work in real combat:
- mass-produced, low-cost interceptor drones;
- detection systems;
- integration of data from different sources into a single real-time air picture.
Evgeniy Khmara said that these are exactly the technologies and practical experience needed to protect the Baltic Sea and critical undersea infrastructure from the same threat that JEF countries already face.
New opportunities through Drone Deal, Train with Ukraine and Build with Ukraine
Ukraine is ready to deepen its Enhanced Partnership with the JEF using models that already work in bilateral formats. These include the Drone Deal agreements, which allow Ukraine to begin exporting drone technology, the Train with Ukraine programme, and the Build with Ukraine programme, which provides for joint production of drones and counter-drone systems (a number of such projects are already under way with JEF participants).
Evgeniy Khmara said that Ukraine proposes using the JEF’s unique geography and technological capabilities to turn Ukrainian combat experience into concrete defence solutions today.
Which countries are in the JEF
The JEF is a multinational expeditionary force established in 2015 at the initiative of the United Kingdom. It also includes Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
In 2025, on the initiative of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine was represented at a meeting of JEF defence ministers for the first time and obtained Enhanced Partnership status.
