Expert Badrak: NATO's newest missiles may appear in the Armed Forces of Ukraine as early as 2026
The latest missile systems, which are currently in service exclusively with NATO member countries, may appear in the Ukrainian army as early as 2026. This was stated in a large article for LIGA.net by Valentyn Badrak , director of the Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Research.
According to him, this is a joint project with one of the European countries, which involves the integration of Ukraine into defense-industrial cooperation. It was first publicly mentioned by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov back in December 2024, calling the missile program "the key to victory and a guarantee of security in the future."
The project, according to Badrak, involves localizing the production of the latest missiles in Ukraine, which are intended to strengthen the Air Defense (ADF) and Missile Defense (MDD) systems.
"It is inappropriate to mention the characteristics of the systems, we will only note that these are the latest developments that are exclusively available to NATO member countries. Their appearance in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is planned for 2026," the expert said.
According to the analyst, this is a unique window of opportunity that opened for Ukraine precisely because of the full-scale war and the awareness of the real danger by EU countries.
"In the absence of a war of such intensity and cruelty, the partners would not even agree to talk about such a project," Badrak added.
The expert noted that the project was initiated by industrialists, who held the first negotiations with partners and provided the opportunity to audit several Ukrainian defense industry enterprises that will participate in production.
After that, the partners recognized the ability of Ukrainian enterprises to participate in this high-tech project.
"Moreover, a successful result, the Ukrainian team is confident in this, will allow us to move on to the joint production of a long-range missile. And even further – to participation in the production of missiles against enemy ballistics," the analyst noted.
- Badrak previously told LIGA.net that the Sapsan ballistic missile had successfully passed a combat test in May 2025 and was being launched into mass production . President Zelensky later confirmed that work on this was indeed underway .
- In addition, the analyst said that the Sapsan reached a speed of Mach 5.2 during tests in July 2024. In comparison, this missile is faster than the American ATACMS and closer to the Russian Iskanders .
