Nine countries support Ukraine’s development of the Freyja air-defense system as an alternative to the U.S.-supplied Patriot, according to reporting from Defense News and Military Times. The outlets describe Freyja as aimed at addressing ballistic-missile threats that Ukraine has difficulty stopping with weapons it can produce domestically. The participating governments are described as backing the effort with an expectation that Freyja could be operational within about a year. The coverage focuses on international support for progressing the system through development, production, and deployment rather than on technical performance specifics. Both sources frame the initiative around filling a capability gap—ballistic missile defense—while leveraging a system Ukraine can build or support in-house. No additional details from the two provided summaries identify which nine nations are involved, the funding levels, or the exact operational milestones beyond a roughly one-year timeframe.