15 April, 2026
Deepening NB8-Ukraine Defence-Industrial Cooperation: A Strategic Win-Win for European Security
SCEEUS Report No. 5, 2026
Executive summary
Deepening military-industrial cooperation between Ukraine and the countries of the Nordic-Baltic (NB8) region is an operational imperative and in all the parties’ mutual strategic interest. Ukraine, which is engaged in a high-intensity attritional war against an adversary with superior mass, has an insatiable demand for conventional systems and high-tech weaponry. Leveraging Ukraine’s expertise and capabilities is the most effective way for the NB8 countries to rapidly close capability gaps and align defence systems with the realities of post-2025 warfare.
Instead of replacing defence-industrial cooperation in larger multilateral formats, NB8-Ukrainian cooperation is a strategic complement in a region that is particularly exposed to the Russian military threat. The NB8-Ukraine defence industry track can move fast and deliver operational results. Once established and proven, it can serve as a scalable model and driving force for broader coordination within NATO and the European Union.
To unlock the full potential of NB8-Ukraine cooperation, both sides must move beyond transactional co-production towards structured joint capability development. Combat readiness – not hardware delivery – must be the governing metric. NB8 countries should establish a dedicated coordination mechanism focused on priority tracks in areas such as integrated air and missile defence (IAMD), deep strike and unmanned systems. They should also enhance the state-facilitated business presence inside Ukraine, collectively advance Ukraine’s integration into the EU drone wall initiative and scale-up Ukrainian component production to reduce dependency on China across critical supply chains.
Ukraine, in turn, should make partner presence on its territory the default industrial model, propose executable deep-strike co-development programmes, prioritise cost-effective IAMD solutions and publish a white paper on defining joint capability development areas. In parallel, it should fast-track European governance and quality assurance standards to make joint ventures scalable and interoperable.
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