July 23, 2026:
Ukraine has shared its war experiences and knowledge with its NATO supporters, and that led to some NATO nations establishing factories to produce drones for Ukraine. One thing NATO nations were concerned about was how they could defend themselves against hostile drones as well as the many ballistic and cruise missiles Russia had used against Ukraine. NATO nations had no defense against such weapons and, given continued Russian aggression, these weapons might one day be used against a NATO nation bordering Russia.
Some NATO nations, such as France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and the Americans, developed and built weapons for export. These nations had no enemies until Russia attacked Ukraine. As part of NATO support for Ukraine, member nations sent weapons they built for their own use and export. This included many air defense weapons seeing their first use in a near-peer war between two nations with equal technical capabilities. Contributors noted their weapons' performance and modified them to improve their effectiveness. The manufacturers could now export their air defense weapons as combat-proven in Ukraine. That’s very encouraging to potential buyers. One missing item is equipment to integrate air defense systems across multiple countries. This would also provide each country with an electronic display of its entire air defense network as well as the location of any intruders.
The problem for NATO armed forces is that they cannot currently launch the kinds of drone offensives that Ukraine and Russia are using. NATO is also incapable of defending itself against any sort of drone offensive. Russia has already indicated that after the Ukraine war is over, an attack on NATO is likely by 2030 or later. Russia is losing in Ukraine, and Vladimir Putin is already developing an Information War plan to minimize the impact and perhaps conceal the reality of defeat. For this reason, Ukraine is again making its case for joining NATO, adding a member with combat experience and a proven ability to innovate to defeat the Russian invaders.