The U.S. Defense Innovation Board has published an analysis of Ukrainian capabilities to develop the technological potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The document is published on the official website of the Defense Innovation Board.

According to the advisory board, which works on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, Ukraine’s recent successes on the battlefield have been largely supported by a technological advantage over the enemy, which was gained through the integration of readily available commercial technologies into the army and their rapid development.

The rapidly growing technological capabilities of the Ukrainian Defense Forces are currently based on a model of direct interaction between programmers, engineers, project managers, and soldiers on the front lines. This interaction is supported by volunteers and startups and funded by private sources.

However, this grassroots approach, while effective due to the lack of government control and bureaucratic red tape, remains poorly suited to scaling up at the national level and interacting with foreign partners.

Public policy and management

According to analysts, the state should become the main manager of the development of Ukraine’s technological potential. Currently, the Brave1 military technology development cluster is playing a key role in this by taking over some of the tasks of the Ministry of Defense.

“While Brave1 has done yeoman’s work to develop the Ukrainian defense innovation ecosystem, promoting international contacts and expediting aspects of the national defense procurement process, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and General Staff (GS) lack a coherent approach to rapid capability development.” the analysts said.

In particular, the Council points to the lack of departmental coordination between developers and the military, and the inability of the Ministry of Defense to properly formulate and communicate the military’s requirements and requests to industry or foreign partners.

“The Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) drone and IT capability coalitions have been deprioritized by the MoD/GS, in favor of capability coalitions addressing major platforms such as armor, artillery, and ammunition. This prioritization reflects the urgent need for major platforms, but also reflects the lack of capacity within the MoD/GS to articulate and lead a rapid capability development process,” the advisors note.

The report also emphasizes the contribution of other Ukrainian platforms supporting defense technology projects, such as the Innovation Development Fund and UNIT.City.

U.S. support

Based on the report, the Defense Innovation Board presented a number of recommendations to the U.S. Department of Defense that should help address the above issues.

In particular, according to the advisors, the U.S. government should strengthen cooperation with Ukraine in the field of technology development and lobby for this policy in the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of Ukraine.

The U.S. Department of Defense should also launch defense and technology capacity-building projects that will help Ukraine develop the necessary personnel, IT infrastructure, and production facilities. The practice of allocating relevant grants by Canada, the United Kingdom, and Norway is cited as an example.