Artificial Intelligence in Defence: NATO and EU Strategies and Innovations

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategic integration of artificial intelligence in defence, as articulated in official NATO and EU frameworks between 2023 and 2025. It maps the convergence of AI with operational domains such as C4ISR, autonomous targeting, cyber defence, logistics, edge computing, and decision support systems.

AI is not a single capability but a layer that touches command and control, ISR, autonomous targeting, cyber defence, logistics, edge computing and decision support. That breadth is what makes its integration strategically decisive and operationally difficult: the value depends on data, trust, assurance and the ability to integrate AI into existing systems and doctrine. For European defence the question is whether frameworks translate into fielded, governed capability — with the safeguards, testing and human oversight that operational use demands — rather than remaining policy aspiration. Adoption will likely be uneven across these domains, advancing fastest where data is plentiful and the assurance burden is lowest, and slowest where the consequences of error are gravest.

Strategically and from an investment angle, AI in defence concentrates value in data infrastructure, assurance and the software that connects models to operations, rather than in models alone. Readers should examine how governance and procurement treat assurance and accountability, which parts of the stack are defensible, and how durable demand forms across the operational domains AI touches. Policy on safety, data and autonomy will shape adoption, and the organisations that solve assurance and integration — not just modelling — are likely to capture the most durable value. The deeper question is whether trust can be engineered fast enough to match the pace of the technology. The full DFM Analysis report sets out the complete source base, the supporting figures and the detailed assessment behind this view.