There are moments when one pauses and realises that something fundamental has changed in how states and industry cooperate to meet a military threat. One such moment is the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration's (FMV) military innovation challenge for Ukraine.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Sweden has progressively escalated its support in a way that has no historical precedent in modern Swedish foreign policy. From the early packages of protective equipment to today's support package 22, the largest to date, which includes the sale and donation of Gripen aircraft, air defence missiles, and equipment for electromagnetic warfare. The total value now amounts to approximately 128 billion Swedish kronor, and the framework for 2026 to 2027 has been set at 80 billion kronor. These are figures that, only a few years ago, would have seemed improbable in a country whose foreign policy was long characterised by the logic of neutrality.
But money and materiel deliveries are not the whole story. Equally interesting is how Sweden is now also mobilising its civilian innovation capacity in the service of Ukraine.
Under support package 19, FMV received a special government mandate: to identify, test, and finance technical solutions requested by Ukraine. The result is the military innovation challenges, a format in which Swedish technology companies are invited to submit proposals addressing concrete military needs formulated by Ukraine itself. The process is deliberately fast. Within twelve months, selected proposals are to move from concept to manufacturing readiness, after which they can be ordered and donated within the framework of future support packages. In a conflict where every week counts, this time dimension is absolutely decisive.
The first challenge, launched in June 2025, concerned countermeasures against aerial vehicles. That is, countermeasures against precisely the drones and precision missiles that have come to define the war in Ukraine more than almost any other weapon. Ukraine knows better than anyone what is required, and representatives from the country were part of the expert group that evaluated the submitted proposals. Now, just over a year later, we are approaching the final phase: the projects are to be completed and move on to series production. This is concrete proof that the format works, that the path from problem to solution can indeed be shortened to months rather than years when the will and the structures are in place.
Support package 22 confirms that this innovation work continues. Innovation initiatives and industrial collaboration are an explicit part of the package, signalling that the Swedish government views technical innovation as a strategic component of support to Ukraine, not merely as a complement to weapons deliveries, but as an independent capability to be built.
FMV's procurement model is designed to rapidly convert civilian technology into military capability while maintaining legal certainty. Reconciling procurement law's requirements for transparency and equal treatment with a format's inherent purpose, namely speed and flexibility, requires a certain degree of creative thinking, which FMV has genuinely succeeded in achieving. That this is being done during an ongoing war, with an end-user country whose representatives participate in the selection process, makes it all the more remarkable.
A second challenge is now being announced: countermeasures and protection against drone swarms. This suggests that Ukraine continues to view the drone threat as central, and that the lessons learned from the first project are now being applied to the next stage.
What is underway here is fundamentally a new form of defence cooperation, one in which civilian engineering expertise is mobilised directly to address a military need, with short lead times.
What this war has taught the world is that Ukrainians are phenomenal innovators under pressure. They have demonstrated an ability to adapt, improvise, and solve problems in real time that impresses everyone following the conflict. Swedish innovation and engineering are world-class. It is this capability that we will now bring into series production and, in the near future, work to save Ukrainian lives. As a Swede, there is reason to feel pride in this.
Markus Garfve is a lawyer and partner at Advokatfirman Fylgia in Stockholm, specialising in public procurement and defence-related matters.