The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) is seeking technical solutions to protect against drone swarms. The procurement is part of the initiative Military Innovation Challenge for Ukraine, and the systems are to be ready for production within twelve months.
– In this challenge, we are looking for innovative solutions within the theme of countermeasures and protection against swarms of drones. Since we want to move from development contracts to production within twelve months, the solutions need to have a relatively high level of maturity, says Johan Gullman-Strand, head of research and development at FMV.
According to a press release from FMV, the innovation initiative will continue through 2026. The goal is described as rapidly transforming civilian technology into military capability to meet Ukraine's operational needs. The current procurement builds on a previous challenge from 2025 that focused on countermeasures against aircraft.
The procurement process is conducted in several stages to ensure the quality of the selection, the agency writes. Companies selected in an initial phase will receive funding to develop their concepts for the next stage. The proposals will then be presented to a jury with Ukrainian representatives, which aims to create a direct dialogue between the companies and the end user. The deadline for submitting bids is 8 April.