📰 Top Stories
UK Signs £1.5bn Defence AI Partnership with Palantir
On 21 September, the UK Ministry of Defence inked a strategic partnership with Palantir worth up to £1.5 billion, creating 350 high-skilled jobs and establishing London as Palantir’s European defence hub. The deal will deploy AI-powered decision-support, planning, and targeting tools—battle-tested in Ukraine—and include mentoring UK defence SMEs for transatlantic expansion.Meta Expands Llama Models to Key Democratic Allies for National Security
On 23 September, Meta announced that it is extending access to its open-source Llama AI models—previously available to US agencies and Five Eyes partners—to France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, NATO, and EU institutions. Governments and trusted private-sector partners can now fine-tune Llama in secure environments for defense applications, enhancing decision-making, mission-planning, and on-device deployment. The initiative supports interoperable AI capabilities among democratic allies while upholding ethical and legal frameworks under the Political Declaration on Responsible Military Use of AI.Boeing Defence, Space & Security Partners with Palantir to Accelerate AI Adoption
On 22 September, Boeing D&SS announced deployment of Palantir’s Foundry across its global defence manufacturing lines. Integrating AI into production of military aircraft, satellites, spacecraft, and weapons will standardise analytics, optimise supply-chain resilience, and support classified programmes with secure data environments.Security Council LIVE: Guardrails Urgently Needed for AI on the Battlefield, Warns Guterres
On 23 September, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council that rising use of autonomous weapons demands binding international protocols to ensure human oversight. He emphasised risks of civilian harm from misidentification by AI systems and called for robust “guardrails” to govern military AI development and deployment.
📢 More Developments
Accelerating Adoption of AI for Cybersecurity at DEF CON 33
At DEF CON 33 on 23 September, Google’s Security Intelligence team and Airbus showcased Sec-Gemini, a cyber-security AI assistant. In live exercises, Google claim 77% of participants found it “very” or “extremely” helpful for real-time vulnerability analysis, illustrating AI’s growing role in cyber defence workflows.
Global AI in Cybersecurity Market Size Projected to Reach $43.75 bn by 2030
A 24 September Grand View Research report forecasts the AI cybersecurity market growing from $8.35 bn in 2024 to $43.75bn by 2030 (CAGR 24.4%). Escalating use of social engineering deepfakes and AI-powered malware drives demand for AI-enabled endpoint protection, network monitoring, and identity management solutions.
SIPRI Expert Contributes to Military AI Toolkit
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute announced on 22 September that Dr Angela Gómez has co-authored a “Military AI Toolkit,” a comprehensive resource offering best practices, risk-assessment frameworks, and ethical guidelines for defence establishments adopting AI-enabled weapons and intelligence systems, to be published later this year.
📖 Long Reads
Governance of Artificial Intelligence in the Military Domain
UNIDIR’s July 2025 brief outlines six priority areas: trust frameworks, human-machine teaming, data stewardship, lifecycle governance, international norms, and measures to prevent destabilising AI use in military operations.
Data, Drones and Dependency: Britain’s AI War Machine Examined
This August 2025 analysis examines the UK’s Strategic Defence Review and StormShroud jammer-equipped AI drone swarms, exploring how autonomy transforms RAF and Royal Navy operations while raising supply-chain and accountability concerns.
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