France and Ukraine launch ‘Brave France’ to support defence startups

France and Ukraine have revealed plans to launch a joint grant programme, dubbed ‘Brave France’, to support defence companies and bolster co-operation on innovation.

The initiative, announced by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Ukraine on 25 February, is set to launch during the second quarter of 2026.

It follows the signing of a letter of intent between France’s Agence de l'Innovation de Défense (AID) and Ukraine’s ‘Brave1’ defence accelerator.

Ukraine’s MoD said there is “significant potential for defence technology co-operation” between the two countries, citing mutual benefits as the motivation behind the initiative.

These include enhanced access to battlefield testing for France, and greater access to France’s “advanced technologies” for Ukraine.

Brave France’s delivery of these outcomes will be facilitated through three primary efforts:
●    Supporting defence companies from both countries with grants
●    Organising hackathons to identify solutions and support startup development
●    Helping facilitate testing through the Test in Ukraine scheme

The Ukrainian MoD said that the first steps in setting up the initiative will include agreement on priority focus areas and developing a funding mechanism.

The AID and Brave1 are also working to establish a body to co-ordinate Brave France’s efforts ahead of launch.

Commenting on the launch on X, Minister of Defence of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov said the initiative would be a “powerful synergy of allied tech and [Ukraine’s] unique battlefield expertise”.

The launch of Brave France comes amid wider efforts to bolster defence co-operation, following a 9 February agreement to launch joint arms production.

It also follows the launch of ‘Brave Tech EU’ in July 2025 and the NATO-Ukraine Innovation, Technology & Engineering (‘UNITE: Brave NATO’) programme the following November, with both taking similar approaches.

BraveTech EU is being undertaken in partnership with the European Defence Fund and the EU Defence Innovation Scheme in particular. This similarly features hackathons and grants, largely focused on innovations provided by smaller companies.

Meanwhile, UNITE Brave NATO is more focused on interoperability, with an emphasis on joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance innovation and counter-UAS products.