The European Commission and Ukraine have launched the BraveTech EU project to speed up the development and production of modern weapons.
The partnership was announced on the European Commission’s official website.
The program combines the efforts of the European Defence Fund (EDF), the EU Defence Agency, and Ukraine’s Brave1 platform.
As part of the project, a new testing platform has been created, with a €35 million budget, to evaluate military technologies under real combat conditions.
The first participant selection activities will begin in June 2026. Field trials and equipment evaluation campaigns, conducted in close cooperation with Ukraine, are scheduled to begin in the fall of the same year.
A consortium of Civitta, Starburst Accelerator, and Darkstar has completed the first phase of the project. Experts selected the most promising solutions from developers across Europe for further testing.
The main aim of BraveTech EU is to rapidly scale up the production of weapons that have already been tested in real combat conditions.
The project is divided into two stages. The first phase, called Seed, focuses on developer competitions and on attracting investors to new companies.
The second phase, called Scale Up, will help expand successful projects. Ukrainian factories will gain access to European business support programs and direct funding.
The European Union plans to allocate up to €50 million to the project’s overall goals. The Ukrainian government is expected to provide a similar amount to support joint investment and innovation.
It was previously reported that the German government is also considering joining Ukraine’s Brave1 defense cluster.
Such cooperation would allow Germany to adopt Ukraine’s experience in rapidly developing technologies and streamlining weapons procurement procedures.
