Britain set to award AI military decision-support contract

The Ministry of Defence intends to place a contract for the prototyping of an artificial intelligence decision-support capability, known as Project Strong, according to a transparency notice published on 4 June 2026.

The notice describes the work as the prototyping of an integrated capability that fuses intelligence into a single analytical platform, generates courses of action, and supports the rapid, human-controlled deployment of authorised effects across the cyber, information and supply-chain domains.

“Project STRONG is the prototyping of an integrated capability that fuses intelligence into a single analytical platform, generates Courses of Action, and supports rapid, human-controlled deployment of authorised effects across cyber, information and supply-chain domains,” the notice states. The capability is intended, in the notice’s words, to operate “at the forefront of risk management to dynamically adjustment responses to the real time operating environment”, drawing on data sources it describes as “highly sensitive and unable to be shared more broadly”.

The contract is to go to Defence Holdings PLC, a London-registered firm the notice lists as a small or medium-sized enterprise. It is worth just under £227,000 before VAT, a modest sum that falls below the threshold at which open competition would normally be required, and covers three months of work from the middle of June.

The contract is to be awarded directly, without competition, under Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 and the procurement’s defence and security regime, using a provision covering prototypes and development. The transparency notice is the step a contracting authority publishes to declare its intention to make a direct award before signing.

The Ministry of Defence said it was seeking to test the suitability and feasibility of the supplier’s novel service offering at a low technical readiness level. “The activity is undertaken is of limited scope and to inform future delivery decisions and does not constitute full scale rollout or commitment,” the notice states, adding that the work “should be considered a minimum level of experimentation / study”.