Defence Online

The Ministry of Defence, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Canadian Department of National Defence will collaboratively pursue research, development, test and evaluation technologies for artificial intelligence (AI), cyber, resilient systems and information domain-related technologies.

The methodologies, algorithms, capabilities and tools created will be exploited by developing new concepts of operations that focus on real-world challenges.

The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) will be the lead agency for the UK. Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) will be the lead organisation on behalf of Canada.

The collaboration has been driven by the rapid pace of technology development and the future challenges in an ever-changing geopolitical environment. This effort will further leverage relevant research programmes among all nations and reduce duplication of efforts.

Dr Nick Joad, Director Science and Technology at UK Ministry of Defence, said: “Our international research collaborations with both the US and Canada are some of our most vital and enduring partnerships.

“This agreement cements our collective commitments to advancing emerging cyber security technologies such as cyber security and artificial intelligence to enhance the defence and security of our nations.”

Dstl Chief Executive, Dr Paul Hollinshead, said: “This partnership with two of our closest allies will help keep the UK secure at home and strong abroad today and in the future.

“Together, we are driving value for money for our respective taxpayers while creating mission critical capabilities through science and technology, keeping our countries and our people safe.”

DARPA Director, Stefanie Tompkins, added: “We know we’re stronger together than separately. The trilateral collaboration is a big step toward enhancing our understanding in the outlined research and development thrust areas. Working with our international partners on science and technology helps us all leverage each other’s individual strengths in order to develop much greater collective capability.”

DRDC Assistant Deputy Minister, Dr Jaspinder Komal, said: “Due to the pervasive nature and rapid evolution of artificial intelligence in dual-use technologies with civilian and military applications, we’ve identified this as a priority area for defence research.

“We’re pleased to be working with our allies in the UK and US through this trilateral agreement, which will potentially enable a multitude of cooperative research projects in the cyber and information domains.”

In addition to strengthening international partnerships, the goal is to continue reducing technological risks so new capabilities can transition into operational use as quickly as possible.

One research project already underway is the Cyber Agents for Security Testing and Learning Environments (CASTLE) programme, which trains AI to autonomously defend networks against advanced persistent cyber threats.

Other research and development areas of interest include:

• human-AI teaming, including military medical triage
• defining and creating trustworthy AI systems, even in the face of attacks by skilled, high-resource adversaries
• protecting, detecting attacks on, and measuring the health of the information domain
• producing tools and techniques that result in more resilient and secure systems, such as rapid certification of software

Collaboration in these and other topics was deepened at a symposium convened by DARPA in summer 2024 which included representatives from across the UK, US and Canadian governments.