SAFE
-
Von der Leyen announces joint EU–Ukraine missile defense system based on "Freyja" project
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in her 16 September State of the Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, announced EU plans to jointly develop with Ukraine an affordable modular missile defense system based on the "Freyja" project, the EU's first-ever procurement of American Patriot interceptors for Ukraine, and a new program of joint EU–Ukrainian defense projects funded by leftover SAFE money. She pledged the EU's strongest-ever support for Ukraine through what she described as the harshest winter of the war.