Your technology is battle-proven.
Now make it irresistible.

We’re paid primarily by U.S. defense contractors — the firms on the other side of the introductions we make. They retain us to find, vet, and prepare technology suppliers whose capabilities match their program needs. You only pay us if you specifically ask us to scout and represent you directly in the USA — and in that case, scope and fees are agreed with you in advance. You will never be surprised.

Steps 05 and 06 are paid engagements. The Limited Availability label reflects capacity, not cost: each packaging and introduction effort is matched to specific contractor demand, and that demand is finite. If a point comes where advancing to either step makes sense for both of us, we discuss scope, deliverables, and fees in a separate conversation and agree them in writing before any work begins.

Our complimentary services remain complimentary under any outcome. Strategy, assessment, and pitch coaching are not billed to you, whether or not a contractor engagement ever materializes. Steps 05 and 06 are paid engagements whose terms are negotiated on a per-company basis; nothing about their scope or fees is pre-set or assumed, and both are agreed in writing with you before any paid work commences.

It is never too early to talk, and in deployed-technology contexts it is often closer to too late than most founders realize. Capturing IP correctly while the technology is still evolving in the field protects rights that become difficult — sometimes impossible — to secure once disclosure has widened. Many Ukrainian companies come to us before any U.S. filings, and our IP Position Assessment is designed for exactly that starting point. Our role is advisory: we lay out the options — what is worth filing, what is better preserved as trade secret, which independent U.S. IP counsel specialize in your technology — and the decisions remain yours.

Bring whatever you already have: pitch deck, data sheets, block diagrams, user manuals, field footage, prior patent disclosures. A polished dossier is not a prerequisite — the assessment is the work that produces it. If it is useful, we will send a short pre-call checklist of materials that typically sharpen the first conversation.

No. Never. Do not send us any classified information, operational details, combat data, or export-controlled technical information at any stage of our work together. We work exclusively from unclassified materials. If a later U.S. engagement requires handling of controlled information, that step is conducted under the appropriate NDAs and regulatory frameworks, and with independent counsel — not with us.

No. The Stirling Group provides strategic advisory — IP positioning, pitch preparation, contractor introductions. We refer you to independent U.S. IP counsel for any legal filings, which keeps our advice clean and ensures there is no conflict on the deal side. Steven Thrasher is a U.S. patent attorney with over 20 years of experience, and that expertise informs our strategic work, but Stirling’s role in your engagement is advisory, not legal representation.

Eight to fourteen weeks is a realistic range for reaching full readiness: IP documentation in order, pitch and technology packaging complete, regulatory posture understood and addressed. That range describes the preparation work itself. A meeting with a U.S. contractor is a separate event, contingent on two conditions converging — that you are ready, and that a contractor we know is actively sourcing a capability that matches yours. Those conditions sometimes align quickly; at other times a prepared company waits for the right contractor need to surface; occasionally we recommend deferring engagement until the technology, documentation, or regulatory posture is stronger. What we commit to throughout is a candid, continuous read on where you stand relative to the U.S. market.

No. What matters is the scale of the opportunity your technology represents, not the size of the team behind it. A company whose technology is combat-proven or at meaningful TRL, whose founders can execute on a U.S. program if one materializes, and whose IP is defensible is a credible counterparty regardless of headcount. Size becomes a limiting factor only when it prevents program execution downstream — not at the inquiry or preparation stage.

Yes. Many of the Ukrainian innovations we find most compelling are dual-use: drones, robotics, AI, sensors, electronic warfare, secure communications. Dual-use is often the cleanest path into U.S. defense markets because it broadens the buyer pool and eases several parts of the regulatory conversation. We help you frame the dual-use profile in the language U.S. program managers expect.

It depends on your technology and where real U.S. demand is at the time. Our U.S. counterparts are mid-tier defense contractors and system integrators — deliberately not primes. Primes have internal sourcing benches and rarely retain outside boutique advisory for foreign-tech integration; they are not on our list. The categories where we see the clearest mid-tier demand today are autonomous systems, ISR, counter-UAS, loitering munitions, electronic warfare, and secure communications. We do not publish a client list; each introduction is specific to a real program need rather than a generic network pitch.

A Zoom call is the fastest way to open a conversation, and it is how most first engagements begin. Our Managing Directors visit Ukraine and Poland on a roughly quarterly cadence; in-person meetings in Kyiv, Lviv, Warsaw, or Krakow are available when schedules align. Business during our complimentary services is conducted in English. At later, fee-based stages, translation support is coordinated as the engagement requires.

A one-hour Discovery Call, with no commitment on either side. The purpose is to understand what you have built, identify where you are in the U.S. market journey, and determine together whether a fuller engagement is warranted. Where it is, the IP Position Assessment typically follows within ten days. Where it is not, we say so candidly — and, where possible, point you to the next step that would make sense for your company.