UK signs £2bn AI soldier-training deal as NATO and Pentagon expand military AI contracts
The global military AI industry is expanding quickly, with the U.S., UK and NATO accelerating deployments of AI-enabled warfighting systems. The UK Ministry of Defence signed a £2bn contract led by Raytheon UK to train 60,000 soldiers a year to use AI, while NATO awarded its air command-and-control data platform work to Anduril, Palantir and Athea SAS. The Pentagon has also struck agreements with eight tech companies to deploy AI across classified networks, as established defence primes such as Lockheed Martin and RTX embed AI into platforms including the F-35 and sensor systems.