In order to strengthen Ukraine’s air defence, particularly against drones and cruise missiles, the German government has apparently funded the Norwegian NOMADS air defence system for Ukraine.
This was announced today by an FFG company representative to military analyst Jeff at the Eurosatory 2026 defence exhibition in Paris. GAU has been allowed to exclusively report on this.
Ukraine is said to have received a total of eight of these Norwegian short-range air defence systems to date. This information is also consistent with earlier reporting by Shephard Media.
On the 21st of January 2026, Shephard Media reported that Ukraine had received eight ACSV vehicles from FFG – financed by the German government. The ACSV itself is used by NOMADS manufacturer KONGSBERG as a platform for that air defence system. This completes the circle.
Unfortunately, no further details regarding contract terms or similar matters are known. A spokesperson for KONGSBERG could not be reached prior to the publication of this article, whilst the German Ministry of Defence no longer provides any public information on German military aid as a matter of principle.
NOMADS (National Manoeuvre Air Defence System) is a short-range air defence system that can be equipped with either four AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder missiles or the same amount of IRIS-T missiles. The latter are most likely to be used in the Ukrainian configuration.
Although the German government also funds IRIS-T SLS launchers which essentially are also designed for short-range operations just like NOMADS and most likely use the same interceptors, these must be integrated into existing IRIS-T SLM fire units. A major advantage of NOMADS is that it can operate completely autonomously.
Based on the ACSV (Armoured Combat Support Vehicle), it is armoured and also features a remote-controlled weapon station for self-defence, which can be fitted with the Browning M2 heavy machine gun.
The idea of providing the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the relatively new NOMADS air defence system stems from considerations by the Scholz government. In June 2024, hartpunkt reported that the German government was considering making the system available to Ukraine.
At the time, it was also stated that key components of the system were likely to be supplied by German manufacturers, provided no other government contributed to the funding.
A month later, in July 2024, the then managing director of FFG, Dennis Bürjes, mentioned in a conversation with Germany’s then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, during her visit to Flensburg, that they were still awaiting the green light for funds intended for the delivery of several in-house developed “cargo vehicles” (ACSVs) to Ukraine.
As we now know, the project was apparently carried out after all, either by the previous government or the current one, and Ukraine has been provided with additional support in the form of modern and highly mobile air defence systems to protect it against ongoing Russian attacks.
If you liked this post, consider following GAU on X, Bluesky, Telegram, YouTube or our newly created WhatsApp channel. If you like, you can also leave GAU a tip on Ko-fi to support our work.
