image shows the WOLFE-NATO drone and lists the Applied Intuition UK industry partners for the drone swarm contract.

Applied Intuition UK seals DSTL contract for swarming drones

Applied Intuition UK has sealed a contract from the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) to lead a consortium testing swarming drones. This no doubt marks a welcome move for those anxiously observing the UK’s lack of capability, but it is a long way from adding to the force. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on February 13, 2026.

Applied Intuition UK has won a contract from DSTL to lead a consortium of partners in trials of swarming drone technology, according to a February 12 press release. The contract has been awarded under the Software Defined Swarms programme and the consortium will deliver an “autonomy test bed for ground-launched, near-surface drone swarms.”

This is the first contract for Applied Intuition UK since it opened its London office in May 2025. The company’s products “will enable the MOD to trial, refine and accelerate cutting-edge swarming behaviours across high-fidelity simulation and live flight trials,” the press release states.

The WOLFE-NATO drone from Evolve Dynamics will provide the main drone for the tests. And those tests will be a mixture of both real-world trials and simulations. “Our leading simulation platform will enable the British Army to accelerate delivery of its ‘20-40-40′ priority,” Iain Lamont MBE, Head of Applied Intuition UK, said. 

The 20-40-40 priority that Iain mentioned is where the British Army is putting a lot of its hopes for the future. It involves around 80% of its combat power coming from uncrewed systems, with the remainder from exquisite crewed platforms. This approach is based on observations from some of Ukraine’s more successful operations. 

The Applied Intuition UK consortium

The consortium includes the following companies as well as an unnamed academic partner: 

  • Applied Intuition UK: Provides a dual-use vehicle intelligence toolchain and autonomy software, including the Axion and Acuity product families, to accelerate the development, testing, and deployment of autonomous capabilities across land, sea, and air domains.
  • Rowden Technologies: Designs and delivers modular sensing, edge computing, and high-performance networking systems specifically engineered for communication-degraded or denied environments.
  • Evolve Dynamics: Manufactures rugged, all-weather unmanned aerial systems (UAVs) and software designed for rapid deployment in tactical ISR, public safety, and frontline defence operations.
  • SAIF Autonomy: Develops a “trust layer” for physical artificial intelligence, providing safety safeguards and assurance frameworks to enable the secure deployment of non-deterministic autonomous systems.
  • Frazer-Nash Consultancy: Provides multidisciplinary engineering and digital consultancy services, offering systems assurance, security resilience, and technical life cycle support across all five warfighting domains.

Calibre comment: When will the British Army get its first drone swarm?

These contracts often give the sense that the British Army is “moving at pace” as its representatives like to say. Or that it is being “agile,” and responding to the threat. The reality is slightly different: DSTL is a research organisation, its job is to look to the future. It funds initiatives to see what is possible and help the development of future technologies. Sometimes those technologies will go into service, most British vehicle armour tends to be developed by DSTL, for example. The group also developed specialised personal protection during the UK’s deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. But a DSTL contract does not always mean something is going into service. 

So, for the British Army, and the anxious onlookers waiting for a surge of procurement and modernisation, this announcement is just one step in the road. It could unlock the confidence needed for drone swarms to enter service, they are an embryonic capability after all. And it is encouraging to see the UK experimenting with the technology. But there is unfortunately a considerable gap between DSTL trials and things making it to the UK’s troops. 

There are other trials with drone swarms and countering them underway around the world. You can read about some of them, as well as the British MoD’s procurement woes in the linked articles below: 

The lead image shows the WOLFE-NATO drone and lists the industry partners. Credit: Applied Intuition UK.

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