AI battle lab to prepare British Army for modern warfare

AI battle lab to prepare British Army for modern warfare
The Ministry of Defence signs new £2 billion contract for AI-based training and analytics for the UK Armed Forces.
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60,000 soldiers a year will be trained using AI and analytics to build a more lethal, combat ready British Army.
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Contract supports around 400 jobs across the UK including the creation of 270 highly skilled roles through 15-year £2 billion contract with a consortium of five UK-based companies.
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The new system helps deliver on the ambition to increase Armed Forces’ readiness, and progress transformation, backed by £298 billion investment through the Defence Investment Plan over four years.
UK soldiers will be better prepared for modern warfare with a new training system that uses AI, advanced analytics and virtual environments to ready troops for rapidly evolving battlefields.
Awarded to Omnia Training – a Raytheon UK-led consortium, involving five UK-based companies, with 44 businesses in the supply chain – the £2 billion contract will support around 400 jobs across the UK over the next 15 years, including the creation of 270 skilled roles. 100 apprenticeships will also be developed, creating routes into skilled defence jobs for young people, with separate opportunities for veterans.
The Army’s Collective Training Service (ACTS) is part of the Army’s Collective Training Transformation Programme (CTTP). This new system will bring together innovative technology to help the British Army prepare for future missions, modernising how soldiers train.
Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis MBE MP said:
Our soldiers serve our nation with courage and exceptional dedication. I am absolutely determined they get the quality training they need to keep us safe.
This programme shows how our investment in defence will create good, skilled jobs in the UK, including up to 60,000 new opportunities through our £298 billion investment over the next four years.
This contract is good news for our national security and for new jobs in communities across the country.
At the heart of this is a new Combat Laboratory – a digital platform which uses AI, advanced analytics and virtual environments to replicate the complexity of modern warfare.
Up to 60,000 soldiers a year will be trained using the platform, which enables commanders and troops to train anywhere, anytime – building a force that is prepared to respond to emerging threats on the battlefield, learning the lessons from Ukraine.
The Combat Laboratory will integrate simulation, live systems and analytics to assess operations, spot patterns and monitor performance using data and AI to support better decision-making. It will improve warfighting readiness across all levels of command, from teams of 100 soldiers to up to 50,000, helping to make the British Army warfighting ready and strengthening support for NATO and allies.
The contract will support jobs across Wiltshire and beyond, in areas including software engineering, AI expertise, cloud engineering and data analytics - demonstrating how defence investment is creating growth and employment in communities across the UK.
100 apprenticeships will be developed in partnership with Wiltshire College and the University of Staffordshire. These will cover disciplines from data and modelling to project management, opening long-term pathways into highly skilled defence careers for young people. New roles will also be open to veterans, with some positions requiring prior military experience and based in Warminster – a town with deep and longstanding military connections.
Omnia Training is a consortium of five UK-based companies – Raytheon UK, Capita, Cervus, Rheinmetall UK and Skyral. It draws on a supply chain of over 44 British businesses across Wiltshire, Leicestershire, Hampshire and beyond. The investment flows directly into British companies and British communities, supporting both growing and well-established businesses.
Skyral’s software and Cervus’ platforms are sovereign, UK-developed capabilities, backed by more than £2 million in Government innovation funding including from the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA). Developed by growing British defence businesses, these platforms have created highly skilled jobs and a valuable military capability with the intellectual property firmly under UK control.
Managing Director and Chief Executive of Raytheon UK James Gray said:
We launched Omnia Training over three years ago to deliver cutting-edge training systems to help the British Army effectively prepare for operations.
Our UK‑based team of innovators, engineers and experts will give soldiers and commanders a new level of training realism and set an example for effective collaboration between the Army and industry.
The contract will help drive forward the ambition to make the British Army ten times more lethal by 2035, backed by £298 billion investment through the Defence Investment Plan over the next four years.