Correspondence

Putting Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the heart of UK Defence

Published 10 June 2026

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the modern battlefield and will profoundly transform the future of warfare. In the past few years, AI models have progressed from completing basic tasks to surpassing PhD-level intelligence. This is only speeding up; with AI model capabilities now doubling every four months. Some predict that by the end of next year, AI will be able to complete tasks in hours which would currently take software engineers weeks.

We can already see how advances in AI have reshaped the battlefield, accelerating decision making and changing how military advantage is generated and sustained. The learned experiences of our Ukrainian allies demonstrate that we must prioritise adoption of this technology, think differently, and go faster in implementing AI-enabled technologies.

Defence faces a clear imperative – we must adopt and exploit AI faster than our adversaries. If we fail to do this the UK will lose its operational advantage and cede advantage to our adversaries. The stakes could not be higher.

We must be at the leading edge of this technological shift to drive real operational advantage. Our core purpose as a Department remains to deter, fight and win. AI, applied responsibly and ethically, is essential to how we do that.

That is why we are writing to you now, as the Defence Senior Leadership Team. Every member of Defence will form part of this transformation. Defence Reform gives us the foundation and structure to drive this forward; working together across the whole of the department to deliver radical change.

AI is fundamentally transforming the way societies work. This includes the way organisations function, including Government. It will dramatically affect how we operate over the coming years, the size and shape of our workforce, how we work, what we do, and the systems and skills that we need.

The UK is well placed to lead this transformation across militaries in NATO and Europe, second only to the US among Allies. We are already investing in our AI capabilities and our investment plans will need to be agile to ensure we are able to operate at the cutting edge. This will require an urgent and decisive step change in how we realise this potential.

The Strategic Defence Review sets out this imperative. It is because of this urgent need for action that we have established the Rapid AI Delivery Taskforce – TF RAID. This vital initiative will establish a fundamentally new approach to adopting, fielding and scaling AI-enabled capabilities across the frontline as part of the Integrated Force. Using new tools to solve real problems. Working in partnership with industry. Giving us the operational edge we need.

The Rapid AI Delivery (RAID) Taskforce will focus on four core areas:

1. Enhancing understanding through machine-augmented intelligence fusion: establishing AI systems capable of processing intelligence data quickly with a high degree of assurance, to support operational decision-making and predictive analysis.

2. Informing operational effect by delivering advantage in denied and degraded environments: supporting a real-time understanding of the electromagnetic environment, drawing on information from multiple sources to deliver operational effect.

3. Improving planning through automation: integrating AI into the planning process to help us better deliver high-quality, adaptable plans at the speed required in modern operations.

4. Delivering operational impact through AI-enabled swarms: using ‘swarms’ of AI-enabled uncrewed systems to drive a step-change in how we use autonomous systems to generate the scale and agility required in contested operational environments.

The Taskforce sets the tone for the approach we must take across the Department. The change required goes well beyond the work of the Taskforce and the transformation cannot be confined to the frontline. And it is not just about the technology. Realising the benefits of AI will require changes to processes, culture, behaviours and more.

This is why we will bring forward a new Defence Strategic Approach to AI with each area of Defence setting out detailed implementation and action plans in response. We are determined that all parts of our system will rise to the challenge – this letter sets out the actions that will form part of that approach. We will build on that, as the Defence Senior Leadership team, to clearly outline what we will do, by when. This is about specific, measurable lines of effort, taken forward in line with the guiding principles of Defence Reform.

Our commitment to you is that we will help you build your capability; empower you to experiment; and ensure Defence enables you to innovate and change. In return, we ask you to be bold. Take the initiative. Defence’s AI advantage starts with you using and exploiting the tools available. The nation needs us to deliver.

THE RT HON JOHN HEALEY MP Secretary of State for Defence

Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton KCB ADC FREng

National Armaments Director, Rupert Pearce

Permanent Secretary, Jeremy Pocklington CB

Chief of Defence Nuclear, Maddy McTernan CB

Actions for Defence

1. People and Culture

To win, you must have access not only to cutting-edge AI tools, but to the training to help you better exploit them. We need a cultural shift to move away from scepticism and occasional use of AI to integrating it into our day-to-day work.

We will:

• Improve the tools available to all our people – civil servants and service personnel alike.
• Encourage all personnel to use AI and take advantage of existing AI training programmes within the next year. Proficient, productive, responsible use of AI will be regarded as a valuable skill and we want you to take advantage of the tools we already have available.
• Update the Defence Skills Framework to reflect the urgent need to upskill our people to use AI. This is about the civilian and military workforce and should address the grade and rank mix, specialisms and pathways to reduce contractor dependence.
• Outline Defence’s future force mix under increased automation and propose a package of retention levers, career pathways, and opportunities for secondments into industry, academia, and allied programmes.
• Revise professional military education (PME) to include leadership in AI-enabled operations and orient academic research toward AI-era warfighting.
• Ensure all major exercises include AI-enabled elements, with structured capture of lessons for doctrine and capability.
• Use existing reward and recognition routes to celebrate experimentation, rapid prototyping, and evidence-based improvement.
• Update the line managers ‘deal’ objective to include appropriate AI objectives for all civil servants—ranging from basic learning to workflow automation to transforming capability plans.
• Aim to ensure user access to sandbox AI environments for as wide a user base as possible.
• Provide a clear pipeline to identify and move successful local experiments to core capabilities that are available pan-Defence at scale.
• Develop MOD’s legal and ethical framework for the use of AI.

2. System Advantage

MOD must have access to expert people and products across AI platforms, models, tools and techniques, and be able to adopt them at the pace of technological evolution.

We will:

• Map our programmes with those of our allies to identify opportunities for collaboration and priority areas for shared trials and burden sharing.
• Produce a rolling assessment of adversary AI posture, capabilities, doctrine and likely trajectories.
• Deliver a rolling coordinated brief on Frontier AI capability, adversary capability and intent, and MOD and partners’ capability and trajectory.
• Aim to make Frontier AI models available as soon as possible across all classifications.
• Look to create a fast, modular, open-architecture procurement model that avoids vendor lock‑in and supports integration across multiple providers, including small and large enterprises, with a particular emphasis on minimising friction for sovereign SMEs and matching the patterns/approach of partners and allies.
• Work with the AI Security Institute (AISI) to explore the development of AI assurance capabilities that can rapidly evaluate any model, from any supplier for any task.
• Work with the US Government to help UK access Frontier US models.

3. Data Foundations

Across all classifications, implementing AI at scale is made more effective and efficient by having high-quality, discoverable, organised and accessible data, with central services supporting a Defence-wide network of data product owners.

We will:

• Accelerate work to create a federated Defence data mesh at all classifications.
• Integrate critical MOD-wide data sources, including, but not limited to, personnel databases, financial data and Office 365.

4. Policy and Doctrine

To overcome complexity, we must have clarity. Our approach to AI must be clearly enshrined in our new Operating Model, strategic AI goals must be prioritised, and leadership and purpose to that end must be shown across all parts of our enterprise.

We will:

• Produce a prioritised doctrine and TTP plan, with tight feedback loops from exercises and modelling.
• Produce an assessment on how AI reshapes deterrence risks and opportunities.

We will continue to iterate the full breadth of Defence’s strategic approach to AI. This will provide the context, rationale and overall narrative for Defence’s approach; translate it into specific strategic headmarks and tasks; and set out detailed implementation and action plans for Defence Areas.