The UK Armed Forces will manage and maintain all its defence equipment with a new artificial intelligence (AI) platform, according to a release from 2 October 2025.
This £320m ($430.9m) contract with IBM UK for the Defence Equipment Engineering Asset Management Systems (DEEAMS) will create 100 new highly-skilled jobs in the UK.
The new system will replace 17 fragmented, siloed and outdated applications with one enabled modern streamlined platform, using AI to bring over £1bn in benefits such as savings on support and IT costs. It will provide personnel with real-time information to predict maintenance and repairs, stock availability, and engineering planning across major equipment and platforms.
It will also enable the adoption of future productivity-enhancing technologies, making sure the UK’s Armed Forces stay ahead of defence innovation and capability.
“This is a major step forward in our commitment to ensuring our military has the very best equipment support available,” noted Luke Pollard, minister for defence readiness and industry.
“We are revolutionising how we provide our frontline personnel with the kit they need, when they need it, whether they’re operating at home or deployed overseas.”
Serving more than 65,000 users across more than 130 major military platforms and assets, the system is said to improve the quality and speed of military decision making, boost operational effectiveness, and support the resilience of digital networks.
The Labour government is implementing institutional changes across the UK defence structure. This agenda is backed with an increase in defence spending, rising to 2.6% of GDP by 2027, with an ambition for hitting 3% in the next Parliament.
“Working with our ecosystem partners, we will deliver this mission-critical platform with predictive intelligence and real-time data driven insights to improve planning and support strategic decision making,” explained Rahul Kalia, managing partner at IBM UK.
This contract represents the Ministry of Defence’s digital transformation. The Strategic Defence Review and Defence Industrial Strategy both prized the digital backbone, a focus that is expected to garner much attention and funds in the forthcoming Defence Investment Plan due to be published sometime in the autumn period.
