In February 2024, 15 countries in Brussels formed the Coalition for Integrated Air and Missile Defense and signed the corresponding declaration.
This decision allowed Ukraine to be more effective on the battlefield and to strengthen the protection of civilians and critical infrastructure.
The Coalition's goal is to provide coordinated assistance in meeting the current air and missile defense needs of the state and to develop an integrated and NATO-compatible air and missile defense system.
Germany and France are the leading countries of the Coalition. Belgium, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, and the United States have also joined.
The main areas of activity for the Coalition include:
- Building an integrated air and missile defense system.
- Providing systems and ammunition.
- Training personnel.
The member states of the Coalition are supplying systems such as PATRIOT, SAMP-T, NASAMS, IRIS-T, HAWK, CROTALE, and others, along with surface-to-air guided missiles for them.
Partners, in close coordination with Ukraine, ensure the training of personnel to operate these systems and their timely repair and maintenance.
A number of programmes and projects are also being jointly implemented, such as FrankenSAM, which enables the integration of Western RIM-7 missiles into Soviet-made "BUK-M1" systems.
Germany, as a co-leader of the Coalition, launched the 'German Initiative to Support Air Defense for Ukraine.' This is a financial mechanism for collecting funds, through which Germany procures air defense systems to transfer to Ukraine as international military aid. Thanks to this initiative, around 1 billion euros have already been raised.
Overall, within the framework of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, eight capability coalitions have been formed: the Air Force Coalition, the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Coalition, the Naval Capabilities Coalition, the Drone Coalition, the IT Coalition, the Artillery Coalition, the Armored Vehicles and Maneuverability Coalition, and the Demining Coalition.
On January 9, 2025, defense ministers from 14 leading countries and Ukraine agreed on roadmaps for the development of all coalitions' capabilities. This took place during a meeting of the Coalition Leaders Group within the framework of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (the 'Ramstein' format).
