Defence Tech for a Strong Europe

In this sponsored op-ed, Ned Baker the MD of Helsing UK argues that for Europe to maximise the potential of defence tech, it must embrace three features: European technological autonomy, data-centric warfare and autonomous mass, and an industrial renaissance. 

DSEI must not become a museum. 

It’s true, this year’s exhibition will display some of the world’s most advanced technologies. But if European governments fail to harness them within a new technological strategic concept, then DSEI becomes a memorial to outdated defence. 

As departing UK Chief of Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin recently warned, “we embrace our inner geek by focusing on the technology and its applications, and we miss the broader point about the strategy that needs to accompany it.”

This year’s exhibition is bigger than ever, but it still feels comfortably familiar and that’s despite the acute discomfort we are experiencing from the tectonic shifts in technology and geopolitics since the last exhibition. They include the rapid development of Agentic AI and its arrival on the battlefield, as well as the unprecedented scaling of affordable uncrewed and autonomous systems. Meanwhile the world is experiencing intensifying geopolitical competition, with friends and foes alike becoming increasingly transactional, as the international order and its norms visibly fragment.  Europe must strengthen its defences and contributions to our enduring alliances, foremost NATO. That cannot be achieved by doing what we have done before – which is too slow, costly, and of questionable relevance to contemporary conflict – but must be done by embracing a new paradigm for European defence. 

That has three features. 

First, European technological autonomy, from being self-sufficient and confidently embracing our homegrown strengths in talent and tech, from academia to industry. We should avoid, where possible, dependence on systems and decisions made elsewhere. And we must not deny our forces the new warfare- and sovereignty-defining technologies due to a lack of vision, unity, and urgency. 

The continent must commit to protect itself and its values, resetting its fragmented defence posture to shape, rather than react, to scientific or geopolitical developments. We must escape our enduring outdated Cold War deterrence logic, rooted in ‘correlation of forces’, which is Russia’s very strength. 

Second, embracing data-centric warfare and autonomous mass, to deter autocrats’ brutal use of ‘human mass’ in pursuit of their ambitions. We already have the data and systems to make more decisions, faster and better than ever before, but we must apply them at scale to our deployed forces. 

AI-enabled systems can now out-sense our adversaries – think underwater platforms silently patrolling our oceans. But they can also out-decide and overwhelm, as evidenced by strike drones deployed in Ukraine, and those being experimented with by our own forces. By vertically integrating AI and robotics on the same platforms, battlefield autonomy is a reality for achieving combat mass in all domains.   

Now is the time to stop marvelling at their novelty as ‘defence innovation’ and start wholesale adoption, moving from experimentation to operations, and shifting AI from back-office business functions to frontline warfighting capabilities.

Third, an “industrial renaissance”, as called for by NATO’s Secretary General, is required to scale the adoption and iteration of these autonomous systems. This can only be achieved through a public-private ‘mission partnership’ on priority defence technologies and strategic investments in the providers of themas a national endeavour. 

The fundamental lesson from Ukraine – beneath the remarkable heroism and tactical innovation – is the importance of preparedness and resilience in today’s sinews of war. As argued by Vitaly Gorchuk, the “decisive factor may not be the sheer number of startups or low-cost drones, but rather a nation’s capacity to develop deeply integrated, scalable, and resilient defence”.

In other words, it’s not weapon systems but production systems that win wars. Yet we are too easily distracted by the former and remain uncommitted to the latter. We talk-up the new technologies while doubling-down on public investment in our traditional industrial model. Neither it nor the innovation ‘ecosystem’ can scale at the price and pace now required to defend the continent. We must build a new defence tech industrial base with the same investment, enthusiasm and gusto that we put into our traditional defence industries. 

In the UK, our government’s ambition to become a “defence industrial superpower” will be tested over the coming weeks, as it confirms the investment plans behind its various reviews and strategies. Capital will follow contracts, and it is still possible to create the virtuous circle of private-investment, public-adoption, and export-driven economic growth. We have an opportunity in this to not only adopt the capabilities we need to deter and, if necessary, fight, but to realise the Defence Dividend. 

Industry has its part to play and is already stepping up. Helsing has the conviction and capital to self-invest in the AI-enabled capabilities to address Europe’s greatest security challenges, for the purpose of protecting our democracies and values. 

These are not speculative concepts but being proven from the skies over the Baltics to the battlefields of Ukraine and on the Eastern Flank Deterrence Line. They are covered in more detail elsewhere in this publication and apply autonomous mass across all domains to digitise the underwater battlespace; conduct recce-strike with precision mass; dominate the air with mission autonomy; and turbo charge space-based ISR.

Europe can overcome its bureaucratic inertia and fragmentation, adopting such a technological strategic concept and the practical programmes to harness its new funding, tech and talent. We must choose to do so, matching the words of our strategies with investment. 

If we do then DSEI 2027 need not be a memorial to Europe’s outdated defences, but a message of renewed strength and collective deterrence. 

This op-ed was written by Ned Baker, Managing Director of Helsing UK and published on September 10, 2025.