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By Sean Rayment
British soldiers are to be issued with new AI-capable radios, headsets and tablets featuring futuristic sensor data, the Ministry of Defence has announced.
The contract, worth up to £86 million, has been awarded to UK-based company BlackTree Technologies.
The radios, headsets and tablets will rapidly reduce the time it takes for soldiers to receive reconnaissance and intelligence data, boosting lethality and reducing friendly-fire incidents, according to the government.
Known as the Dismounted Data System (DDS), the AI-capable equipment includes radios, headsets, display tablets, cables, batteries, pouches and antennas.
The new equipment will provide precise information on surroundings and intelligence, meaning increased clarity on who are enemies and who are comrades.
With all soldiers linked to the same network through this equipment, DDS will also be tailored to different scenarios, allowing troops to receive either, or a combination of, voice or visual data, maximising effectiveness across all battlefield situations.
The new systems have already been tested by soldiers on deployment in Estonia. The testing, on NATO’s eastern flank, saw the visual information element allow soldiers to be less distracted by loud noises on the battlefield.
This follows the government committing to the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War – reaching 2.6 per cent of GDP from 2027 – supporting good jobs and growth in every corner of the nation.
Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, Luke Pollard MP, said: “The ability to receive, share and deploy accurate information is crucial to battlefield advantage, and this state-of-the-art technology will make our soldiers more integrated and more lethal.
“It will begin rolling out to the British Army this year and, with the work delivered by a British-based SME, shows that our move to warfighting readiness is being seized as an opportunity to make defence an engine for growth in the UK.”
One of the benefits of the new systems is that they have already been tested by soldiers on deployment in Estonia. The testing, on NATO’s eastern flank, saw the visual information element allow soldiers to be less distracted by loud noises on the battlefield.
The contract supports this government’s commitment to spend more with UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with the work creating 12 new jobs in Tewkesbury, Hereford and Birmingham.
The DDS will be delivered to the Army in multiple tranches from September, with the full roll-out of equipment set to be completed in 2027. An initial £46 million contract has been made by the Army with BlackTree Technologies, with options for a further £40 million.
The contract supports the Chief of the General Staff’s ambition to double the British Army’s lethality by 2027, and it backs delivery of the Strategic Defence Review to move to warfighting readiness.
Head of Tactical Systems, National Armaments Director Group, Brigadier Jeremy Sharpe, said: “We are delighted to be building on the successful deployment in Estonia last year and look forward to working with BlackTree Technologies to bring this game-changing capability to more of the British Army.”
BlackTree founder and Managing Director, Neil Clements-Hill, said: “BlackTree is excited to be working with the TacSys team to field this cutting-edge technology to the British Army. Waveforms ensure that the Army can operate in the most demanding environments, when nothing else works.
“From initial experimentation under the DSA programme, through the delivery of Project ASGARD in 2025, and now delivering Dismounted Data System capability, we have been working closely with the Army for many years and are very happy to continue this close relationship and help ensure that they can achieve their vision of modernising their tactical networks.”
The MOD is ramping up support for UK SMEs, with the establishment in January of the Defence Office for Small Business Growth and a spending target of an additional £2.5 billion with UK SMEs through to May 2028, taking total annual MOD spending with SMEs to £7.5 billion.
