NATO/​AUKUS sovereign AI programme

A budget covering more than the AI programme. DIANA is funded by all Allies on NATO common-funding cost shares, and its 2024 budget was approved under AC/346-D(2023)0022(INV) (the statements use the AC/346 series for DIANA Board of Directors decisions; the Board has a representative of every Ally). The budget pays for the whole accelerator (staff, operations and challenge grants across dual-use technology areas), and the 2024 statements neither mention AI nor split spending by technology, so the AI share is unknown. DIANA is also only one of the record's instruments: the Maven and Google Cloud procurements, AUKUS Pillar 2 and the NATO Innovation Fund lie outside it. 'appropriated' is the nearest kind for an annual budget approved by the member governments' representatives rather than by a parliament.

Voted by parliament: DIANA’s €30 million 2024 budget for the whole accelerator, whose accounts do not split spending by technology, January 2024 to December 2024. Printed as “EUR 30,000,000”. About $31M at the reference rate of 31 Dec 2024. The 2024 budget was approved in November 2024 (AC/346-D(2023)0022(INV)) at EUR 30,000,000. NATO: DIANA (financial statements), International Board of Auditors for NATO (audit report), North Atlantic Council (public disclosure), IBAN Audit Report on the 2024 Financial Statements of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), PO(2025)0336, with DIANA's 2024 Financial Statements (publicly disclosed as PDN(2025)0068), Note 20 '2024 Budget Execution', printed page 19 (PDF page 54); the Budget Execution Statement, printed page 10 (PDF page 45), shows 30,000,000 in both the Initial Budget and Final budget columns of 'Total FY 2024'. The financial year is 1 January to 31 December (Note 2, printed page 12)., 28 Nov 2025

Spent: €24.7 million by 31 Dec 2024. Printed as “24,695,803”. 12 of the budget’s 12 months had passed. About $26M at the reference rate of 31 Dec 2024. Total FY 2024 30,000,000 30,000,000 0 30,000,000 2,150,623 24,695,803 24,695,803 2,150,623 3,153,574 0 NATO: DIANA (financial statements), International Board of Auditors for NATO (audit report), North Atlantic Council (public disclosure), IBAN Audit Report on the 2024 Financial Statements of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), PO(2025)0336, with DIANA's 2024 Financial Statements (publicly disclosed as PDN(2025)0068), DIANA Budget Execution Statement as at 31 December 2024 (amounts in EUR; Note 20), printed page 10 (PDF page 45): row 'Total FY 2024'; columns in order Initial Budget, Revised Budget, Transfers, Final budget, Commitments, Expenses, Total spent, Carry forward, Special carry forward, Lapsed. The paid figure is the Expenses and Total spent value. IBAN's opinion (printed page 3) covers the budget execution., 28 Nov 2025

Committed: €2.15 million, 31 Dec 2024. Printed as “2,150,623”. Commitments open at 31 December 2024, carried forward to 2025 (the Carry forward column holds the same amount); not spent in 2024. The other 3,153,574 of unused 2024 budget went to a 'Special Carry Forward' that the Nations approved in the 2025 budget (AC/346-D(2024)0048-REV2-AS1), and nothing lapsed. Total FY 2024 30,000,000 30,000,000 0 30,000,000 2,150,623 24,695,803 24,695,803 2,150,623 3,153,574 0 NATO: DIANA (financial statements), International Board of Auditors for NATO (audit report), North Atlantic Council (public disclosure), IBAN Audit Report on the 2024 Financial Statements of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), PO(2025)0336, with DIANA's 2024 Financial Statements (publicly disclosed as PDN(2025)0068), Budget Execution Statement, printed page 10 (PDF page 45), row 'Total FY 2024', columns Commitments and Carry forward; Note 20, printed page 19 (PDF page 54), for the special carry forward, 28 Nov 2025

Spent: €24.5 million, 31 Dec 2024. Printed as “24,509,415”. The same year's spending on the accrual basis (Statement of Financial Performance, 'Total expenses'), which Note 20 reconciles to the budget-basis 24,695,803. IBAN's summary note rounds it to 'EUR 24.5 million'. IBAN also reports that the resubmitted statements still overstate contractual supplies and services expenses by EUR 36,882 (an advance payment that should have been a prepayment). Paid uses the budget-execution total instead, because the record's paid figures come from budget execution. Budget Execution Statement Total Costs 24,695,803 Depreciation & Amotisation Charges + PP&E Recognition - 230,233 Other Expenses + 29,001 Financial Costs + 14,845 Statement of Financial Performance Costs 24,509,415 NATO: DIANA (financial statements), International Board of Auditors for NATO (audit report), North Atlantic Council (public disclosure), IBAN Audit Report on the 2024 Financial Statements of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), PO(2025)0336, with DIANA's 2024 Financial Statements (publicly disclosed as PDN(2025)0068), Note 20, 'Reconciliation between Budget Execution and Statement of Financial Performance', printed page 19 (PDF page 54); Statement of Financial Performance, printed page 7 (PDF page 42); IBAN observation 1, paragraph 1.7(b), printed pages 8 to 9, 28 Nov 2025

Spent: €9.37 million, 31 Dec 2023. Printed as “9,366,597”. 2023 total expenses on the accrual basis, from the prior-year column of the 2024 Statement of Financial Performance; IBAN's summary note rounds it to 'EUR 9.4 million'. The management report places DIANA's initial operating capability in 2023. This document holds no 2023 budget execution statement. Total expenses 24,509,415 9,366,597 NATO: DIANA (financial statements), International Board of Auditors for NATO (audit report), North Atlantic Council (public disclosure), IBAN Audit Report on the 2024 Financial Statements of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), PO(2025)0336, with DIANA's 2024 Financial Statements (publicly disclosed as PDN(2025)0068), Statement of Financial Performance, printed page 7 (PDF page 42), row 'Total expenses', columns Current Year 2024 and Prior Year 2023, 28 Nov 2025

Committed: €7.4 million, 31 Dec 2024. Printed as “EUR 7.4 million”. IBAN: awarded in 2024 under 74 Phase 1 Grant Agreements; the agreement's Article 3.1 sets EUR 100,000.00 per innovator, 'paid in full thirty (30) days after signature'. IBAN found DIANA disbursed grant funds in advance without requiring innovators to justify expenditures (paragraph 2.22). DIANA's own Note 1 gives 73 innovators and EUR 7,300,000 (next figure); the statements do not reconcile the two. In 2024, DIANA awarded EUR 7.4 million under 74 Phase 1 Grant Agreements, EUR 3 million under 10 Phase 2 Grow Agreements, and approximately EUR 1 million in TEVV funding to Innovators selected for Phase I of the Challenge ... Programme. International Board of Auditors for NATO, IBAN Audit Report on the 2024 Financial Statements of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), PO(2025)0336, with DIANA's 2024 Financial Statements (publicly disclosed as PDN(2025)0068), IBAN audit report IBA-AR(2025)0016, observation 2, paragraph 2.21, printed page 15 (PDF page 19; the page's disclosure stamp falls inside the sentence, marked '...'); Article 3.1 of the Phase 1 Grant Agreement quoted at paragraph 2.15, 28 Nov 2025

Paid out: €7.3 million, 31 Dec 2024. Printed as “EUR 7,300,000”. DIANA management, Note 1: 73 innovators selected through the five challenges launched in 2024 'received challenge funding' of this amount. The Foreword (printed page 3, PDF page 38) calls them the 2025 accelerator cohort, each 'receiving EUR 100,000'. IBAN counts 74 agreements and EUR 7.4 million (previous figure). As a result, 73 innovators received challenge funding in the amount of EUR 7,300,000, confirming the mandate given to the DX by the nations to foster and accelerate innovation in dual-use technology for the security of all. NATO: DIANA (financial statements), International Board of Auditors for NATO (audit report), North Atlantic Council (public disclosure), IBAN Audit Report on the 2024 Financial Statements of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), PO(2025)0336, with DIANA's 2024 Financial Statements (publicly disclosed as PDN(2025)0068), Note 1 'General Information', printed page 11 (PDF page 46), 28 Nov 2025

Paid out: €3 million, 31 Dec 2024. Printed as “EUR 3,000,000”. DIANA management, Note 1: the 10 companies from the 2023 Phase I cohort selected for Phase II in 2024 'received an additional round of challenge funding' totalling this amount. IBAN's paragraph 2.21 gives the same EUR 3 million, as awarded under 10 Phase 2 Grow Agreements. From the 2023 Phase I cohort of 44 companies, 10 were selected to DIANA’s Phase II cohort in 2024, and received an additional round of challenge funding for a total of EUR 3,000,000. NATO: DIANA (financial statements), International Board of Auditors for NATO (audit report), North Atlantic Council (public disclosure), IBAN Audit Report on the 2024 Financial Statements of the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA), PO(2025)0336, with DIANA's 2024 Financial Statements (publicly disclosed as PDN(2025)0068), Note 1 'General Information', printed page 11 (PDF page 46), 28 Nov 2025

A part of the programme. The Defense-wide RDT&E line through which the US Department of Defense funds AUKUS Pillar 2 projects. In FY2024 it was titled 'AUKUS Innovation Initiatives' (R-1 line 69); CRS (May 2024) identifies the FY2025 'International Innovation Initiatives' request with the same program element, PE 0603945D8Z, and FY2026 keeps that title (the FY2026 program element number is unverified: the DoD justification books were not reachable). It is one AUKUS partner's money for all Pillar 2 areas (the FY2026 statement names AI and autonomy among seven), and the statement does not say how much of the line is AUKUS. FY2026 funds remain available for obligation until 30 September 2027 (P.L. 119-75).

Voted by parliament: the International Innovation Initiatives line’s $183 million FY2026 appropriation, October 2025 to September 2026. Printed as “183,048”. 76 INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION INITIATIVES 173,048 183,048 Program increase - AUKUS capability development 10,000 U.S. Congress (Congressional Record; U.S. Government Publishing Office, govinfo.gov), Explanatory statement submitted by Mr. Cole, Chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, regarding H.R. 7148, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Congressional Record, vol. 172, House, 22 January 2026, Book II), Division A, Department of Defense, page H1552 (PDF page 200): Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide table 'Explanation of Project Level Adjustments [In thousands of dollars]' (head on H1547, columns R-1, Mandatory, Budget Request, Final Bill), R-1 line 76, Final Bill column. The table is a scanned image with no text layer; read from the page image (crops in nato-aukus/dl-06). P.L. 119-75 sec. 4 gives the statement effect for the allocation of funds.

Budget estimate: $173 million, 22 Jan 2026. Printed as “173,048”. The President's FY2026 request for the line, as the explanatory statement's Budget Request column prints it (the Mandatory column is blank for this line); Congress added 10,000 for 'AUKUS capability development'. 76 INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION INITIATIVES 173,048 183,048 Program increase - AUKUS capability development 10,000 U.S. Congress (Congressional Record; U.S. Government Publishing Office, govinfo.gov), Explanatory statement submitted by Mr. Cole, Chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, regarding H.R. 7148, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Congressional Record, vol. 172, House, 22 January 2026, Book II), Division A, Department of Defense, page H1552 (PDF page 200), R-1 line 76, Budget Request column (scanned table, read from the page image)

Annual appropriation: $40 million, 3 Feb 2026. Printed as “$40,000,000”. Congress's FY2026 addition for AUKUS across two lines. The tables show it as +10,000 (thousand) on this line ('AUKUS capability development', H1552) and +30,000 on Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) Fielding, R-1 line 301 ('international initiatives', H1564; that line's final bill is 274,530). The same paragraph directs DoD to give the defense committees Pillar 2 budget profiles 'including execution data' within 90 days of enactment and quarterly until 30 September 2027. Given the importance of this partnership, the agreement includes an additional $40,000,000 in Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide within the International Innovation Initiatives and Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) Fielding budget lines to support the further growth of trilateral cooperation. U.S. Congress (Congressional Record; U.S. Government Publishing Office, govinfo.gov), Explanatory statement submitted by Mr. Cole, Chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, regarding H.R. 7148, Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 (Congressional Record, vol. 172, House, 22 January 2026, Book II), Division A, Department of Defense, page H1356 (PDF page 4), paragraph headed 'International Initiatives' (text layer); table entries on H1552 (PDF page 200) and H1564 (PDF page 212), read from the page images

Annual appropriation: $12.5 million, 23 Mar 2024. Printed as “12,500”. FY2024 appropriation for the line under its earlier title, 'AUKUS Innovation Initiatives' (R-1 line 69): half the 25,000 requested, cut as 'excess to need'. P.L. 118-47 (approved 23 March 2024) sec. 4 gives the statement effect, and the funds were available for obligation until 30 September 2025. The same statement added 14,700 for 'AUKUS and coalition warfare' inside DIU Fielding (R-1 line 281A, H1712). Amounts in thousands of dollars ('Explanation of Project Level Adjustments', H1699). 69 AUKUS INNOVATION INITIATIVES 25,000 12,500 Program decrease - excess to need -12,500 U.S. Congress (Congressional Record; U.S. Government Publishing Office, govinfo.gov), Explanatory statement submitted by Ms. Granger, Chair of the House Committee on Appropriations, regarding H.R. 2882, Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Congressional Record, vol. 170, No. 51, House, 22 March 2024, Book II), Division A, Department of Defense, page H1703 (PDF page 203), Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide project-level table, R-1 line 69, columns Budget Request and Final Bill

NATO, International Board of Auditors for NATO (IBAN) financial-audit reports (nato.int): PO(2025)0336, publicly disclosed as PDN(2025)0068: IBAN audit report IBA-AR(2025)0016 (26 August 2025) on DIANA's financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024 (issued 31 March 2025, resubmitted 27 June 2025), with the Council action sheet of 28 November 2025. Budget Execution Statement for 2024 (final budget 30,000,000; expenses and total spent 24,695,803; commitments 2,150,623; special carry forward 3,153,574; lapsed 0), the accrual reconciliation, 2023 comparatives, grant totals and an unqualified IBAN opinion. The statements never mention AI and do not split spending by technology area. NATO, International Board of Auditors for NATO (IBAN) financial-audit reports (nato.int), 2 Nov 2026

nato.int, for other years of DIANA's statements: Web search restricted to nato.int for IBAN reports on DIANA's 2025 financial statements; direct requests for 2025-iban-diana-en.pdf, 2024-iban-diana-en.pdf and 2023-iban-diana-en.pdf in the financial-audits folder (the file-name pattern of other entities' recent reports). No DIANA statements for 2025; the three paths returned HTTP 404. The search listed a 2022 IBAN report covering DIANA among other entities, which was not opened. nato.int, for other years of DIANA's statements, 2 Nov 2026

NATO Innovation Fund website: Home page as served on 2 November 2026; its links to SFDR sustainability disclosures (2026), a principal adverse impacts statement (2025) and a responsible investment strategy (2026) were not opened. No financial statements and no figure for the fund's size, called capital or investments; the page shows '€1.52B' of 'Co-Investment Attracted', which is a co-investment count, not the fund's own money. NATO Innovation Fund website, 2 Nov 2026

NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) newsroom: NCIA release on the Maven Smart System acquisition (the record's source for the March 2025 procurement). Not opened: HTTP 403 with a Cloudflare 'Just a moment...' bot check, which was not bypassed. NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) newsroom, 2 Nov 2026

US Department of Defense Comptroller budget materials: FY2026 and FY2027 RDT&E Programs (R-1) on comptroller.war.gov and comptroller.defense.gov. Not opened: every request returned HTTP 403 'Access Denied', with curl's default and with a generic browser User-Agent. The RDT&E justification books (R-2) on the same hosts were not tried. US Department of Defense Comptroller budget materials, 2 Nov 2026

Congressional Record (govinfo.gov), FY2024 Defense explanatory statement: Congressional Record, vol. 170, No. 51, Book II (22 March 2024), explanatory statement for H.R. 2882 (P.L. 118-47); every page's text searched for 'AUKUS'. R-1 line 69 'AUKUS INNOVATION INITIATIVES', 25,000 requested and 12,500 in the final bill (H1703); +14,700 for 'AUKUS and coalition warfare' in DIU Fielding (H1712). No other AUKUS mention. Congressional Record (govinfo.gov), FY2024 Defense explanatory statement, 2 Nov 2026

Public Law 118-47 (govinfo.gov): Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, approved 23 March 2024: sec. 4 (explanatory statement), and Division A, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide; full text searched for 'AUKUS'. Sec. 4 gives the statement effect for the allocation of funds; RDT&E, Defense-Wide is $36,892,886,000, available until 30 September 2025. The act's text never mentions AUKUS. Public Law 118-47 (govinfo.gov), 2 Nov 2026

Congressional Record (govinfo.gov), FY2026 Defense explanatory statement: Congressional Record, vol. 172, Book II (22 January 2026), explanatory statement for H.R. 7148 (P.L. 119-75), Division A: text pages searched for 'AUKUS'; the image-only RDT&E, Defense-Wide tables (H1547 to H1564) read by OCR and every cited figure checked on the page image. The book's other image tables were not read.. The 'International Initiatives' paragraph (H1356): an additional $40,000,000 for AUKUS in two lines and a reporting requirement with execution data. R-1 line 76 'INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION INITIATIVES', 173,048 requested and 183,048 in the final bill, including +10,000 'AUKUS capability development' (H1552); +30,000 'international initiatives' in DIU Fielding, line 301 (H1564). Congressional Record (govinfo.gov), FY2026 Defense explanatory statement, 2 Nov 2026

Public Law 119-75 (govinfo.gov): Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, approved 3 February 2026: secs. 4 and 5, and Division A, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Defense-Wide; full text searched for 'AUKUS'. Sec. 4 gives effect to the statement printed 'on or about January 21, 2026' (it appears in the Record of 22 January); RDT&E, Defense-Wide is $35,248,875,000, available until 30 September 2027. The act's only AUKUS mention concerns State Department staff and facilities in Australia. Public Law 119-75 (govinfo.gov), 2 Nov 2026

Congressional Research Service report R47599 (everycrsreport.com mirror): AUKUS Pillar 2 (Advanced Capabilities): Background and Issues for Congress, version of 21 May 2024, section 'Funding for Pillar 2 Activities'. congress.gov and crsreports.congress.gov answered HTTP 403, so the mirror was read.. Pointed to the FY2024 figures above and to PE 0603945D8Z; reports the FY2025 request as 'approximately $79.8 million' under 'International Innovation Initiatives', $10 million of it for 'a multi-classification level collaborative computing environment'. No execution data. Used only to find primary documents; no figure is taken from it. Congressional Research Service report R47599 (everycrsreport.com mirror), 2 Nov 2026

DIANA's budget approval date: Note 20 says the 2024 budget 'was approved in November 2024' but cites AC/346-D(2023)0022(INV), a 2023 document number, and gives no day, so the budget is dated as the budget execution statement states it, at 31 December 2024.

DIANA's 2025 financial statements and IBAN report, which would give the 2025 budget (AC/346-D(2024)0048-REV2-AS1) and its execution, were not on nato.int on 2 November 2026.

No document opened prices the Maven Smart System acquisition or the Google Distributed Cloud contract: NCIA's site was behind a bot check, Google's release (a company document) was not read, and NATO's common-funded budgets (military budget, NSIP) were not searched.

US outlays for International Innovation Initiatives: no document read reports them by program element, and the DoD budget site returned HTTP 403. The FY2025 enacted amount for the line was not found.

The FY2026 explanatory statement (H1356) directs DoD to give the defense committees Pillar 2 budget profiles with execution data within 90 days of enactment and quarterly to 30 September 2027; whether any of it is public is unverified.

UK and Australian AUKUS Pillar 2 budget lines (UK Ministry of Defence accounts, Australian Defence Portfolio Budget Statements) were not searched.

NATO Innovation Fund: the participating Allies' capital commitments and the fund's called or invested capital appear in no government document read.

Stage: Empanelled

Selected for DIANA’s 2025 Sensing & Surveillance cohort. SandboxAQ’s AQNav uses quantum sensors and variations in Earth’s magnetic field for navigation. DIANA’s cohort terms specify €100,000 in challenge funding; the company announcement gives no separate payment amount.

Primary source, 6 Feb 2025