Ukraine has joined the Security Cooperation Support Partnership (SCSP) of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), the agency announced on 22 October. Gerhard Heiming reports in Europäische Sicherheit & Technik that the move lets Ukraine’s defence industry bid directly on NATO tenders and gives Kyiv a closer role in shaping its own defence and industrial requirements through the agency’s expertise and procurement structures.
A New Access Point
The partnership was set up in 2025. Besides Ukraine, it has six members: Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and NATO headquarters. The North Atlantic Council approved the arrangement in April 2026, and NSPA can now place contracts directly with Ukrainian companies. According to the report, this makes Ukraine the first non-NATO country for which a dedicated partnership has been created as its central point of access to the agency’s work.
Industry Day in Kyiv
To launch the cooperation, NSPA held a “Ukraine Industry Day” in Kyiv on 14 October, attended by about 150 Ukrainian companies. ES&T describes it as the first event of its kind held by a NATO organisation since the Russian invasion. It gave Ukrainian firms a platform to network and discuss future procurement trends. NSPA says the aim runs both ways: to strengthen Ukraine’s defence-industrial base, and to let the alliance draw on Ukraine’s combat-tested practice and innovation.
Money Already Moving
NSPA says it has mobilised about €400 million through the trust fund of NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine. That support includes medical supplies, fuel, protection for critical infrastructure and cybersecurity. A further €219 million has gone through the IT Capability Coalition to modernise Ukraine’s digital defence. In both arrangements, NSPA acts as the central manager, pooling requirements, using economies of scale and streamlining purchasing. ES&T also notes that NATO allies provide 99 per cent of military aid to Ukraine.
Why It Matters
Until now, most of Ukraine’s relationship with NATO’s procurement machinery has run one way: allies buy, NSPA manages, Ukraine receives. Direct contracting reverses part of that flow. Ukrainian firms can now become suppliers inside the alliance’s acquisition system, not only end users of it.
That matters because Ukraine’s industry has what much of the alliance lacks: rapid iteration of drones, electronic warfare and other systems under constant battlefield pressure. Putting those firms in NATO tenders is a practical way to move wartime learning into allied inventories without waiting for a membership decision.
It also builds integration below the political level. Contracts, standards, quality assurance and supply relationships create ties that persist regardless of how the membership question develops. The test will be whether the 150 companies at the Kyiv industry day turn into actual NSPA contract awards, and whether the agency’s acquisition rules can move at the speed Ukrainian producers are used to.