Ukraine Leads Race For Defense Innovation, Bundeswehr Representative Says

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) This was stated by Admiral Christian Bock, head of the Bundeswehr Innovation Center, in remarks to a Ukrinform correspondent on the sidelines of the New Age Defense conference in Berlin.

When asked who is winning the race for defense innovation today-Germany (and Europe) or Russia-Bock replied briefly:“Ukraine.”

Comparing the capabilities of Europe and Russia, he added:“We are beginning to prevail. Because we have industry and financial resources. And we have a partner like Ukraine, from whom we receive all the information needed to then deploy our budgets and industrial capabilities. Thanks to this, we are capable of prevailing.”

According to the admiral, one of the main lessons of Russia's war against Ukraine has been the need for constant technological adaptation to new threats and the creation of a flexible system capable of instantly implementing new insights.

“We need to learn lessons every day in a new way, because new threats and new experiences emerge daily. This requires a flexible system that allows us to incorporate new developments and adjust our own decisions on a daily basis,” he noted.

According to Bock, hardware and software are developing at different speeds. Since software evolves much faster, the key task for the Bundeswehr in peacetime is to model the processes that Ukrainians implement daily on the battlefield-the combination of various components and their parallel development at different speeds.

Against this backdrop, the head of the Bundeswehr Innovation Center particularly highlighted Ukraine's ability to quickly adapt to wartime conditions.

“What impresses me most is the ability to adapt and utilize everything available-both in terms of hardware and software-as well as to engage the entire society in countering the enemy,” he noted.

As Bock emphasized, it is precisely the involvement of the entire society that is one of the key factors in Ukraine's resilience.“It is not only the military that must deal with threats-the whole society must be involved. Furthermore, robots and unmanned systems help the weaker side have a better chance of becoming the victor,” the admiral stressed.

Commenting on Ukraine's Delta situational awareness system, the Bundeswehr representative called it a prime example of rapid digital adaptation.“This is a good example of an open digital environment. Thanks to the speed of information processing and the system's adaptability, it is well-suited for the Ukrainian side,” he said.

At the same time, according to Bock, NATO cannot simply copy the Ukrainian system at this time due to security requirements.“For NATO, it is currently impossible to simply copy it due to all the security regulations. But yes, of course, we intend to develop similar solutions,” the admiral noted.

Read also: Bundeswehr exploring potential use of Ukraine's Delta syste

He added that the Bundeswehr is already working on a system that will integrate various unmanned platforms into a single digital battlefield picture:“We are developing algorithms that will enable us to integrate all the different unmanned systems into a single situational awareness system.”

The admiral also emphasized that Germany's future drone countermeasure system will be developed with consideration of Ukraine's experience with multi-layered defense.

“We are proceeding from the concept of multi-layered defense. We need long-range systems, short-range systems, and everything in between. This is exactly how we are adapting the system to our operational needs and NATO plans," he said.

As reported by Ukrinform, the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to develop mutually beneficial cooperation with European partners, particularly in the area of strengthening the innovation and technological capabilities of the Ukrainian military.

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