The British Army has unveiled a new AI digital targeting system similar to what is used by Russia and Ukraine. ASGARD is designed to dramatically improve the speed and accuracy of the UK’s battlefield strikes.
The system was recently tested during recent NATO exercises, using artificial intelligence and advanced communication networks in order to track and strike enemy targets at long range.
It enables decisions that once took hours to now be made in mere minutes in what is a significant boost to the tempo of operations.
ASGARD was announced by the Defence Secretary John Healey last October, while contracts were awarded in January followed closely by an official prototype deployed just months later.
It would be successfully tested in NATO’s Exercise Hedgehog, conducted in Estonia over two weeks in May.
In a statement, Maria Eagle, the Defence Procurement Minister, said: “We are learning the lessons from Ukraine so our frontline personnel can strike further and faster and maintain advantage over our adversaries.
“ASGARD exemplifies the vision of the Strategic Defence Review, with speed and world-class capability.”
Calling the system a “breakthrough”, Sir Roland Walker, the Chief of General Staff, added: “ASGARD helps double our lethality and exponentially reduces the time to see, decide, and strike. What took hours, now takes minutes.”
He also expressed how the new system brings Britain closer to the high-speed targetting networks used by the likes of Ukraine and Russia.
It is part of the Army’s plan to establish a ‘Digital Targeting Web’ throughout the Armed Forces by 2027 which has already been backed by over £1billion in funding.
Meanwhile, Britain and its people are not safe, a former Nato general secretary has warned, as he told Parliament describing the country as underprepared for war is an “understatement”.
Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, who co-wrote the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), said the UK is lacking in ammunition, training, people, logistics, and medical capacity.
He told the upper chamber: “Bearing in mind the difficult world that we live in and have to survive in, this is what I firmly believe: we are underinsured, we are underprepared, we are not safe. This country and its people are not safe.
“The British people are faced with a world in turmoil, with great power competitions spilling over now into conflict, with constant grey zone attacks on our mainland, and with Russia – often with the co-operation of Iran, China and North Korea – challenging the existing world order. We simply in this country are not safe.”