UK: AI Redefines the Future of National Defense

Modernization of the British Defense Apparatus

In the face of growing geopolitical tensions and an acceleration of technological innovations, the United Kingdom is embarking on a profound transformation of its defense apparatus. Artificial intelligence is now at the center of this strategy, identified as a crucial lever to transform military capabilities and stimulate innovation. In September 2025, the British government published its "Defence Industrial Strategy," an ambitious roadmap for the coming years that places AI at the heart of the defense sector's development. This strong political signal is accompanied by significant public investments in the defense technology sector, also known as DefTech.

A Strategic Fund for National Security

As part of this strategy, the British government announced the creation of a strategic investment fund for national security, endowed with £330 million. This fund is specifically intended to address the country's national security and defense needs. At the same time, during the "Spending Review 2025," Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a total commitment of £86 billion for research and development over four years, until 2029/2030, with a significant portion allocated to defense. In response to an increasingly unstable international context, the military budget had already been increased by an additional £2.9 billion in the autumn 2024 budget, exceeding NATO commitments.

Reform to Align the Military with Innovation

However, investments alone are not enough. For many industry players, the main challenge is to align the pace of military organizations with that of technological innovation. "What is encouraging is that the Ministry of Defence is giving us clear indications of its investment priorities," observes Mike Sewart, UK Chief Technology Officer of Thales. "The challenge now is for the pace of change within the military to align with the pace of technology." This is precisely one of the goals of the "Strategic Defence Review," initiated the previous year by the British government. This reform aims to modernize decision-making structures and supply chains to make them more agile and open to innovations. "This reform should simplify some processes and allow for an acceleration of more innovative technologies," Sewart hopes.

A More Open Defense Ecosystem

In this context, large industrial groups are seeking to strengthen their collaboration with the technological ecosystem. Thales, with 8,000 employees in the UK, intends to contribute significantly to this movement, both through investments and partnerships. "It is a strategic priority for Thales to develop and work with a diverse ecosystem," explains the group's CTO. Thales collaborates with startups, SMEs, academic institutions, and also with cloud giants like Google, Amazon Web Services, and Microsoft Azure, particularly for its sovereign cryptography solutions. "I fundamentally believe that the power of innovation comes from the diversity of skills," emphasizes Sewart. "Large organizations like Thales bring a deep understanding of the customer and expertise in security. Startups and SMEs bring brilliant technologies that often need to be integrated into larger systems."

Targeted Investments in AI and Dual-Use Approach

Thales invested £40 million last year to develop its AI capabilities in the UK, including hiring specialists. "We launched CortAIx in 2024: it is our AI accelerator at the group level. In the UK, we have about 200 AI experts out of the 800 that Thales has globally," details Sewart. The applications of AI in defense cover a potentially very broad spectrum. "Take image recognition in sonar data: we use AI to identify patterns and train algorithms capable of recognizing objects in the water," illustrates the CTO. "This same image recognition technology is used in tactical mission planning for the military, but also in our civilian solutions like virtual airport control towers." This "dual-use" approach, where military and civilian technologies mutually benefit from each other, is a notable feature of the British Defense Tech market. "The fundamentals of AI, such as image recognition or natural language processing, are the same whether applied to military or civilian use cases. Only the application changes," highlights Mike Sewart.

A National Ambition for AI

Beyond the defense sector, the UK has no shortage of ambitions in artificial intelligence. Ranked first in Europe and fourth globally in the Global AI Index 2024, the country is home to over 3,700 AI companies employing 64,500 people. It has attracted more than £44 billion in private investments since 2024, positioning itself as the leading European market and the third globally for AI venture capital, behind the United States and China. To support this momentum, the British government launched the "AI Opportunities Action Plan" in January 2025, an ambitious plan endowed with over £2 billion aimed at multiplying computing capabilities by 20 by 2030 through the AI Research Resource. This plan also includes the creation of "AI Growth Zones" across the country to accelerate the development of infrastructure (data centers, computing centers, etc.). Additionally, a "Sovereign AI Unit" has been established, chaired by James Wise of Balderton Capital, with £500 million in funding to accelerate the development and mastery of AI in the UK.

In the current geopolitical context, the defense sector is one of many areas benefiting from this proactive approach.