Britain will become the first international partner to access Ukraine’s Avengers AI Labs, giving UK researchers and defence companies access to battlefield data gathered by thousands of cameras and infrared sensors.
Britain is to become the first international partner granted access to Ukraine’s Avengers AI Labs, opening a large collection of battlefield data to British researchers and technology companies as the two countries jointly develop new defence and security capabilities, the UK Defence Journal understands.
The agreement was signed in Kyiv by Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of the UK-Ukraine 100 Year Partnership. According to a UK Government news update, Avengers AI Labs contains operational data collected by thousands of daylight cameras and infrared sensors deployed across the Ukrainian battlefield, providing material that can be used to train and evaluate artificial intelligence models.
The sensors record millions of objects encountered during operations, including tanks, artillery systems, air-defence equipment, infantry and aerial threats such as Shahed attack drones and reconnaissance UAVs. That information is returned to Avengers AI Labs and used to train systems to recognise and classify battlefield objects. The new partnership will give selected British innovators and researchers access to those operational datasets while bringing UK universities, engineers and technology companies into collaborative work with Ukrainian specialists.
The initial emphasis will be defence and national security as Britain and Ukraine intend to bring together military operational experience, engineers, academics and companies in what the Government describes as an AI cell tasked with addressing security problems faced by both countries. Further collaborative platforms are also expected to be explored under the agreement.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said, as quoted in the news update: “Ukraine has become one of the world’s leading innovators in defence technology, forged through courage, ingenuity and the hard lessons of war.”
He added: “This groundbreaking partnership will bring together Ukraine’s unrivalled operational experience with Britain’s world-class AI ecosystem, giving us the opportunity to develop the technologies of the future, changing lives here in Britain and saving lives on the battlefield in Ukraine.”
Several pilot projects involving British companies are already under way. Bristol-based Sintela, Oxford-based Mind Foundry and London-based Skyral are participating in early work under the partnership, with one system expected to be deployed shortly at a UK defence site.
That project combines Ukrainian operational data with British technology to turn buried fibre-optic cables into a large AI-enabled sensor network. The Government says the system is intended initially to help protect military sites from protesters and hostile actors attempting to gather intelligence. If the approach proves effective, similar systems could eventually be applied to airports, prisons, railways and energy infrastructure.
A second strand will examine next-generation low-power AI chips for drones, robotics and autonomous systems. The aim is to develop computing hardware capable of supporting intelligent systems while consuming less power, potentially allowing uncrewed platforms to operate for longer and process information more quickly in environments where conventional computing arrangements are difficult to sustain.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said, as quoted in the same news update: “Ukraine is pushing the frontier of defence innovation as they bravely resist Putin’s illegal invasion. From supporting with military equipment and training to co-developing cutting-edge technology, the UK will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
He added: “By combining the UK’s world-leading scientists, engineers and tech companies with Ukraine’s unique battlefield experience and data, we will strengthen both of our nations’ defence and security.”
The agreement also reflects a broader shift in British support towards joint development and industrial cooperation rather than the transfer of equipment alone. Ukraine’s wartime experience has generated large volumes of operational data under conditions that are difficult to reproduce in peacetime testing, particularly around drone warfare, target recognition, electronic warfare and the rapid introduction of new technologies.
Minister for AI Kanishka Narayan described access to Avengers as part of a wider effort to build sovereign British capabilities, saying: “By giving British start-ups, researchers and engineers access to insights from its Avengers AI platform, we are taking that partnership further and helping Britain develop the next generation of defence technology.”
The AI agreement was announced alongside deeper cooperation on long-range weapons. Britain has separately authorised MBDA to release classified information concerning UK components in the Franco-British Storm Shadow/SCALP missile family, allowing France and Ukraine to advance plans for local assembly of the French-designated SCALP weapon in Ukraine.
I suppose the only thing I’ve got questions about is the AI… Is it Sovereign and protected from foreign purchasers… Cos I can bet there’s plenty of US companies looking to buy their access to the same data, I don’t think they give a damn about process anymore.