NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) command and Ukraine’s Defense Ministry are asking outside inventors for a way to keep Russian warplanes on the ground. The contest, called the Airfield Denial Challenge, pays 250,000 Euro to the company or individual whose idea would work.
The War Zone, which reported on the program, framed the problem plainly. Russia launches tactical airstrikes from bases that Ukraine can barely touch, and Ukrainian attacks on those bases, though frequent, are not sustained enough to stop Russia from flying devastating sorties.
The case NATO makes
SACT’s own wording is blunt. Experience of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it said, shows that Russia’s ability to project air power from secure rear-area airfields “remains one of the most consequential asymmetries in the current conflict.” Enemy aircraft fly from bases beyond the reach of Ukraine’s conventional strike assets and hit troops, infrastructure and civilian population centers with guided aerial bombs, cruise missiles and stand-off munitions.
“Each sortie originates from an airfield. Every airfield is a node of vulnerability,” SACT said, adding that if an airfield can be persistently denied, the adversary’s air campaign is “fundamentally disrupted at source.”
Present tools fall short, the command argued. Manned strike aircraft, long-range ground fires such as MLRS and ballistic missiles, and single loitering munitions have all shown “limited effectiveness” against defended airfields. They lack the mass, persistence and electronic-warfare resilience to suppress many aim points at once.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry put the goal in terms of targets. It wants technologies that permanently limit the enemy’s use of aircraft, runways, fuel and ammunition storage, and ground support infrastructure, and it invited Ukrainian miltech companies, startups and engineering teams to take part.
What entrants have to deliver
The contest is open on method. Uncrewed aerial systems of any configuration or range class qualify, as do autonomous or semi-autonomous munitions and loitering systems, delivery mechanisms that go beyond conventional aerial platforms, and hybrids of several technologies.
Every entry must work where GPS is denied and electronic warfare is heavy, in all weather and seasons, and must show a credible route to rapid fielding. SACT also wants systems that can carry out sustained strikes deep into contested airspace without “continuous human control,” need minimal operator training, and use AI-assisted target acquisition that “reduces reliance on expert judgment.”
Technology readiness matters too. Entries need not be proven, but they should sit in the middle to upper part of the technology readiness level scale, from components integrated in a laboratory with “high fidelity” to prototypes “near, or at, planned operational systems.” Anything needing more than a year to field will not be considered.
Deadlines
Submissions close July 20. Ten finalists will be named on August 11 and invited to a “pitch day” on Sept. 3, tentatively in Poland.
The War Zone doubted that the program will deliver. Ukraine has one of the world’s most inventive defense technology sectors, it noted, yet it has not reached what this challenge seeks. Kyiv also has limited money, and the Atlantic Council has pointed to “Ukraine’s inability to mass produce sophisticated weapons or sustain stable military supply chains.” NATO has built a half-billion dollar fund for developing weapons for Ukraine, which could help turn a winning idea into hardware. Even then, building enough of them to matter would take a long time.
