IN Brief:
- NATO DIANA and Ukraine have signed the accelerator's first cooperation memorandum with a NATO partner country.
- The agreement supports collaboration on technology development, testing, NATO requirements, and industrial scaling.
- Future projects will need to establish eligibility, technical requirements, funding, and routes towards military adoption.
NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) and Ukraine have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation on defence technology development, testing, and industrial innovation.
The agreement, signed at NATO Headquarters on 29 October, is DIANA’s first memorandum of this kind with a NATO partner country. It establishes a framework for connecting Ukrainian technology developers with expertise and infrastructure across the Alliance’s defence innovation network.
Cooperation will focus on identifying opportunities for joint technology development, examining routes for testing emerging capabilities, and helping Ukrainian innovators understand NATO requirements. The arrangement also addresses obstacles encountered when promising technologies progress from initial development towards wider manufacturing and operational adoption.
Ukraine’s defence technology sector has developed substantial experience of adapting equipment under demanding operational conditions. Engineering teams have worked through repeated cycles of prototype development, testing, modification, and production, particularly in technologies associated with uncrewed systems and electronic equipment.
DIANA offers a different but complementary development structure, combining technical assessment with access to specialist facilities, defence users, and commercial expertise. Bringing these approaches together could provide opportunities to evaluate technologies against requirements used across NATO countries while allowing Allied organisations to examine Ukrainian engineering developments.
The accelerator’s network currently includes 16 accelerator sites and more than 200 test centres across the Alliance. These organisations provide specialist capabilities for engineering evaluation, demonstration, and validation, allowing participating companies to assess equipment using facilities and expertise that may not be available within their own businesses.
Its 2026 programme includes 150 innovators selected from 24 NATO countries. The participants are working across ten defence and security challenge areas, including autonomy and unmanned systems, maritime operations, advanced communications, resilient space capabilities, critical infrastructure, logistics, and data-assisted decision-making.
The challenge programme combines initial financial support with technical mentoring and opportunities to test proposed solutions. Participants can work with scientists, engineers, military users, and industry partners to establish whether their technology can meet defined requirements and progress towards more extensive evaluation.
The new Ukraine agreement creates a basis for cooperation with that ecosystem, but it does not automatically make Ukrainian companies eligible for every existing DIANA funding programme. Access conditions, individual project arrangements, and any financing commitments will need to be established through subsequent decisions.
Developing equipment for military use involves technical requirements that can differ between organisations. An autonomous vehicle, communications subsystem, or sensor developed for one application may need additional interfaces, environmental testing, information assurance, or software integration before it can be incorporated into equipment operated by another armed force.
Testing facilities provide a means of examining these requirements under controlled conditions. Laboratory measurements can establish the performance of individual components, while integrated evaluations examine how equipment behaves when connected to other systems and exposed to representative operating environments.
For an autonomous platform, the interaction between sensors, navigation equipment, computing hardware, and control software is particularly important. Each subsystem contributes information or performs a defined function, while the complete system must operate within its available power, communications, and environmental constraints.
Evaluation can reveal differences between the performance of an individual component and the behaviour of the assembled system. Sensor measurements may be affected by the operating environment, while communications limitations or changing processing loads can influence how information reaches the control software.
These conditions require testing that records the hardware and software configuration, the operating environment, and the measurements obtained. Engineers can then identify faults, evaluate modifications, and determine whether the revised equipment satisfies the required technical criteria.
Industrial scaling introduces further demands. A prototype assembled in small numbers may use components or production processes that are difficult to reproduce consistently at higher volumes. Manufacturers must establish repeatable assembly methods, component inspection, supply arrangements, and suitable procedures for managing engineering changes.
DIANA’s network offers access to technical and commercial expertise that can help companies address those requirements. The extent of its involvement in individual Ukrainian projects will depend on the cooperation mechanisms developed under the memorandum and the facilities available for the work concerned.
NATO has also established other arrangements connecting Ukrainian and Allied defence innovators. The NATO–Ukraine Innovation Cooperation Roadmap, endorsed in 2024, provides a framework for cooperation on technology development and the exchange of experience between their innovation ecosystems.
A separate initiative, Ukraine-NATO Innovation, Technology and Engineering – Brave NATO, supports joint development projects involving Ukrainian and Allied companies. Its first competition in 2026 focuses on counter-uncrewed aircraft systems and air defence, with approximately €10m in contracts expected through that competition.
The broader UNITE – Brave NATO programme provides access to potential funding of up to €50m alongside testing and development opportunities. Those arrangements belong to the existing initiative and do not represent funding newly allocated through the DIANA memorandum.
The two mechanisms can address related technical challenges through different organisational structures. Joint development programmes can establish specific engineering projects, while accelerator and test networks provide resources for companies examining whether their solutions satisfy defence requirements.
DIANA also operates a Rapid Adoption Service intended to connect eligible technologies with military evaluation and potential procurement opportunities. The approach supports progression beyond initial development, allowing military organisations to assess equipment in representative environments before deciding whether to pursue further acquisition activity.
Participation in such a process requires technical evidence and engagement with the organisation responsible for the proposed capability. An accelerator programme can help a company develop its product, but the decision to acquire equipment remains separate from the provision of technical mentoring, testing, or development support.
With its headquarters in London, a regional hub in Tallinn, and a North American office in Halifax, DIANA coordinates an innovation network spanning NATO countries. The Ukraine agreement extends its formal cooperation with a partner whose defence technology industry has considerable experience of rapid equipment development and adaptation.
Jyoti Hirani-Driver, DIANA’s acting managing director, described the memorandum as the beginning of the relationship, with practical cooperation still to be developed. NATO has identified reciprocal access to experience, expertise, and testing opportunities as central to the arrangement.
DIANA and Ukraine will now work towards identifying suitable technologies, establishing development relationships, and defining opportunities for testing and industrial collaboration. Specific projects, eligibility arrangements, and funding commitments will determine how the memorandum progresses into engineering activity.
