Germany and Ukraine Expand Defense Alliance Through Joint Drone and Battlefield Tech Initiative

The Brave Germany initiative is designed to support defense technology development and military startups as part of broader efforts to deepen Ukrainian-German defense cooperation.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius made the remarks in an interview with UNITED24 Media alongside Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov following the signing of a letter of intent to launch the initiative.

Brave1 is a very visible sign of the change of our relationship to our strategic partnership, coming from a partnership in which our support was playing the main role in our relationship to Ukraine.

Boris Pistorius

Defense Minister of Ukraine

Pistorius added that the two countries have now entered a new stage of cooperation, where Ukraine’s battlefield experience is becoming a source of lessons for Germany’s own defense development.

“We can learn and benefit from what Ukraine, Ukraine Armed Forces, your ministry, your industry has been learning already for more than four years, and at the same time we won’t stop supporting you as much as we can and as we did in the years before,” Pistorius said.

According to him, the focus is now shifting toward accelerating joint production and improving efficiency in key defense sectors, including drones, ammunition, and air defense systems.

“But now it’s about how can we proceed faster and more efficiently in terms of production of drones, about different kinds of drones, ammunition, air defense in all areas. Brave1 is a fantastic platform for doing practically. So therefore we are really very, very satisfied having been able to sign it,” he added.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov stressed that Germany’s support for Ukraine has expanded significantly in recent years and now includes both financial and industrial cooperation in defense technologies.

Germany has increased funding for Ukraine many times over in recent years and provides significant assistance, for example in air defense, long-range artillery initiatives, and the procurement of Ukrainian drones for joint production.

Mykhailo Fedorov

Defense Minister of Ukraine

He added that Ukraine aims to evolve beyond being solely a recipient of assistance and instead build a two-way partnership in which both countries benefit from shared innovation.

“Our task is not just to be a recipient of aid, but to build relations with our partners so that the German Ministry of Defense and the German armed forces, the entire German defense system, also develop and gain unique experience from the Ukrainian battlefield in order to adapt their own systems,” Fedorov said.

He further noted that Germany seeks to develop a defense system capable of protecting Europe as a whole, while Ukraine contributes its battlefield-tested innovation cycle.

“Our task as Ukrainian producers is to help innovation, to show how rapidly the innovation cycle changes every few months, how we test products on the battlefield. This is about relations, about how we will jointly invest, allocate funding for startups, both German and Ukrainian, test them on the battlefield, turn these startups into companies, destroy the enemy and build a real strategic partnership,” Fedorov concluded.

Earlier, Pistorius stressed that NATO maintains its unity and is sharpening its focus on bolstering deterrence. At the same time, he acknowledged that Europe is currently navigating a period of rapid transition following years of insufficient defense spending.

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