The United Kingdom has become Ukraine’s first international partner whose defence companies will gain access to Avengers Labs – a Ukrainian platform for training artificial intelligence models for unmanned systems using real battlefield data.
This was reported by Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence.
Up to 12 British defence companies are expected to be involved in the programme. They will be able to test and train their own AI models in the secure Avengers Labs environment. Participants will not have direct access to the dataset materials and will not be able to download them.
The partnership was made possible by a joint declaration of intent between Ukraine and the United Kingdom in the field of artificial intelligence. The relevant agreement was signed by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
One of the priorities will be the development of AI models for swarms of unmanned systems. Such technologies are intended to enable drones to interact with one another, independently detect threats and identify targets.
This also includes the possibility of remotely controlling a large number of autonomous drones. This could be used, in particular, for logistics tasks and precision strikes against enemy targets.
The first UK–Ukraine competition envisages developing models that will allow unmanned systems to operate more effectively when communications with operators or global navigation systems are limited.
The UK Ministry of Defence will select British companies through a competitive process. Up to 12 participants will be admitted whose proposals meet the requirements of the Ukrainian and British defence ministries.
The selection is expected to be completed within a few weeks. Companies will receive access to the platform after the Ukrainian side completes the necessary export control procedures.
The process is being coordinated by the UK Ministry of Defence’s RAID (Rapid AI Delivery Task Force). Its task is to support the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence technologies for the military.
At the core of the Ukrainian platform is an annotated dataset of more than 5 million frames collected directly during combat operations. Most of the data comes from unmanned systems via the DELTA combat system.
The data is transmitted in anonymised form and with a delay so as not to create additional risks for service personnel.
The dataset contains information on various types of targets, including:
- Russian tanks;
- artillery;
- air defence systems;
- infantry;
- aerial targets, including Shahed-type attack UAVs and reconnaissance drones.
The data is regularly updated and expanded.
According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence, Avengers Labs has unique content, as it is difficult to create a dataset of this scale and quality without experience of a modern full-scale war.
More than 30 Ukrainian defence companies are already training their own AI models using Avengers Labs. Three products created with the help of this platform are already being used on the battlefield.
The Ministry of Defence notes that cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence is part of the 100-year partnership between Ukraine and the United Kingdom and is intended to support the development of defence technologies and strengthen Ukraine’s ability to resist Russian aggression.