UK SDR 2025: MoD focusing on new Digital Targeting Web
A Thor unmanned aerial vehicle being tested by the British Army during Project Convergence Capstone 5 (PC-C5) at Fort Irwin in California on 10 March 2025. (UK MoD/Crown Copyright)
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is in the process of developing a new digital battlefield system called Digital Targeting Web, based on lessons learned from Ukraine, Gaza, and other conflicts, a defence official told Janes on 2 June.
The system aims to expand integration across all domains through a secure, cloud-based data system managed by artificial intelligence (AI) and supported by a common synthetic environment, according to the official. The principle behind this is to connect any sensor, whether it be in space, air, on the surface, or below the surface, to a full range of effectors.
The UK's Strategic Defence Review (SDR), published on 2 June, outlines the system as an integrated force between any “sensors, effectors, deciders, and the common data fabric”. Deciders analyse information including through human-machine teaming, and the common data fabric gathers and sends out information across sensors, deciders, and effectors, according to the SDR.
An example of the battlespace system's operation featured in the SDR describes how a sensor on a ship or in space could be used to identify a threat, then target and destroy it by using an aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicle or via a cyber operation.
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