Too few defense contractors are testing their technology in real-world situations against a peer adversary, NATO’s military chief said Thursday, praising companies that are making the effort to work with the Ukrainian military.
“Those few that have tried it have either learned a lot, or they’ve decided to go home because they can’t compete in that environment. But that is going to be the environment that we face,” said Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who leads U.S. European Command and serves as NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Grynkewich, who was speaking virtually to an industry group in Washington, D.C., urged any companies seeking to sell new products to NATO allies to attend September’s Defense Tech Valley conference in Ukraine.
“They’re bringing in dozens and dozens of companies from across Europe who have co-production or co-licensing agreements and partnerships with the Ukrainians. It’s an incredible opportunity to see what the modern battlefield looks like today, what it might look like tomorrow, and what we might need in the future,” he said.
Find partners with expertise
NATO allies across Europe are raising defense budgets to meet a new, higher spending pledge. Much of what they buy will go to Ukraine, and much of what they spend will flow to the United States through a recent initiative dubbed the NATO Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL. The month-old effort has already attracted more than $2 billion in pledges, with more expected.
Grynkewich described how European Command plays a central role in coordinating Ukraine’s requests for future capabilities with European and U.S. inventories.
“The Ukrainians will let us know what their requirements are. We then bring that into a combined U.S. European Command-and-NATO working group that elevates those requirements. And then I, as [Supreme Allied Commander], will elevate the requirement and send it back to them at the working group,” he said. “Some things are only going to come from the U.S. factory,” such as PAC-3 missiles.
Grynkewich’s comments suggest that PURL’s pipeline can apply beyond missiles to anything Ukraine needs, including advanced drones. The framework is broad by design, allowing SACEUR and NATO to validate “other critical equipment” that the United States and allies may have or build, such as drones.
At present, Ukraine’s biggest demand is for Patriot interceptors and other key air-defense systems to fend off barrages of missiles and drones. Grynkewich’s comments suggest that the testimony and feedback of Ukraine’s fighters will influence broad decision-making about the future building and stockpiling of weapons, not just for the United States but also for the future of European arms development, the world’s fastest-growing defense market.
Grynkewich said new and established defense companies looking to benefit from future budgets would do well to “figure that out, find the right partners who have that expertise, and get up there and do some real-world testing. The lessons that you can learn from the battlefield of today and other regions of the world are going to be absolutely essential to any future fight in any region of the world, including the Indo-Pacific.”
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