NATO and Ukraine are launching a new joint initiative to accelerate defense innovations, UNITE – Brave NATO, the Alliance's press service announced on November 26, UNN reports.
Details
"On November 25, 2025, Ukraine and NATO announced the launch of UNITE – Brave NATO, the Ukraine-NATO program for innovation, technology, and engineering," the statement reads.
As stated, UNITE – Brave NATO is "the first joint NATO-Ukraine program for scaling prototypes and testing innovative technologies that help meet interoperability requirements." Ukraine's defense technology cluster Brave1 will coordinate the work from the Ukrainian side. NATO has chosen the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) to conduct the first competition.
The first competition, as stated, will focus on "bringing new innovative products to the forefront, aimed at countering unmanned aerial systems, strengthening air defense, and ensuring secure communications at the front line."
Teams from Alliance and Ukrainian companies will be eligible for joint grants totaling 10 million euros, equally distributed by NATO and Ukraine
Companies will be able to register their interest online in the near future and subsequently submit their joint applications in February 2026, NATO noted.
"Following a successful pilot competition, NATO and Ukraine are ready to further increase funding, up to 50 million euros for UNITE – Brave NATO for 2026. NATO will fund its contribution through the Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine (CAP), and the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine will double this amount," the statement reads.
Future activities of UNITE – Brave NATO, as reported, will focus on areas such as:
- counter-unmanned aerial systems (c-UAS);
- signals intelligence (SIGINT) systems;
- reliable navigation in complex electromagnetic environments;
- unmanned ground systems.
The winners of the first UNITE – Brave NATO competition will be announced in spring 2026 at the second NATO-Ukraine Defence Innovators Forum.