Best of LinkedIn: DSEI UK 2025

00:00:00: This episode is provided by Thomas Allgaier and Frennis, based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts talking about DSEI UK, twenty twenty five.

00:00:08: Frennis supports ICT enterprises with market and competitive intelligence, decoding emerging technologies, customer insights, regulatory shifts and competitor strategies.

00:00:18: So product teams and strategy leaders don't just react, but shape the future.

00:00:22: Welcome to the deep dive.

00:00:24: Okay, let's unpack this.

00:00:25: Today, we're diving into the top DSEI UK.

00:00:28: twenty twenty five trends seen across LinkedIn, offering you kind of a shortcut to being well informed on the latest in defense and security.

00:00:36: Yeah, and what's fascinating here is how these posts really reveal concrete progress.

00:00:41: You see it across platforms, sensors, the whole digital backbone.

00:00:44: They give you a real glimpse into, you know, fresh product launches and these targeted partnerships driving sovereignty and, well, industrial depth.

00:00:52: Absolutely.

00:00:52: It's not just a list, is it?

00:00:53: It's the strategy behind it all.

00:00:55: Yeah.

00:00:55: So let's start on the ground.

00:00:56: What kind of significant progress are we seeing for future armored fleets and kinetic options?

00:01:01: Well, one of the... Big Things is definitely enhanced collaboration, like the UK joining the Common Armored Vehicle Program.

00:01:09: Tom Newman from Babcock International Group, he noted how this strengthens ties with Finland and Norway, combining proven platforms with UK engineering, supporting the Army's needs, and driving value right down into the supply chain.

00:01:22: Okay, so that's a clear signal of strategic alignment there, makes sense.

00:01:26: Here's where it gets really interesting, though.

00:01:28: This push towards more autonomy.

00:01:30: precisely we saw Lockheed Martin UK and General Dynamics UK unveil an uncrewed turret on the Ajax IFV.

00:01:38: Tim H described it as a well a generational leap in turret and crew interface design.

00:01:43: It's about enhancing crew safety getting them out of direct harm and strengthening the UK defense ecosystem to

00:01:49: taking people out of the most dangerous part.

00:01:51: That is a huge step.

00:01:52: So what does this mean for countering?

00:01:54: You know those emerging threats especially from smaller uncrewed things like drones.

00:01:59: Yeah, that's the big question, isn't it?

00:02:00: A critical challenge.

00:02:02: Air Aries armaments, they officially launched their proprietary CUAS, that's counter-uncrewed aerial system.

00:02:08: Rooster ammunition.

00:02:09: Rooster, okay.

00:02:10: Yeah.

00:02:11: Michael Data hailed this as a world-first capability.

00:02:14: It basically gives ground units a direct kinetic answer to drone threats, protecting warfighters, protecting civilians.

00:02:21: A real kinetic option.

00:02:23: Okay, moving from the ground to the skies then.

00:02:26: It seems uncrewed systems are really taking flight in new ways.

00:02:30: Yeah.

00:02:30: But facing new challenges too.

00:02:32: Definitely.

00:02:33: A major development is the strategic partnership between Quantum Systems and Skyports.

00:02:37: They're launching Overwatch, offering ISR services, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance.

00:02:43: ISR is a service.

00:02:44: Exactly.

00:02:45: Martin Carcura noted it as pairing world-class unmanned systems with world-class operations.

00:02:50: And Paul C. Strobel, he shared the story of Quantum Systems' big ad splash, you know.

00:02:54: Signifying their UK market entry, they're planning a fifty million investment over five years, setting up a whole service support training and logistics center right here in the UK.

00:03:04: Wow, that is a significant commitment.

00:03:06: And offering ISR as a service, that's a potential game changer for accessibility.

00:03:13: But okay, more drones in the air.

00:03:16: What about their vulnerabilities?

00:03:17: You mentioned challenges.

00:03:18: Right, this is critical.

00:03:18: Cyber exposure, Yarmour, and well the... General LinkedIn buzz highlighted this.

00:03:24: many mission computers like those based on NVIDIA Jetson Oran or Xavier.

00:03:28: Powerful

00:03:28: stuff for AI.

00:03:29: Amends AMO capabilities, yeah.

00:03:31: But they come with, and this is the quote, zero build-in cybersecurity.

00:03:35: Zero,

00:03:36: wow.

00:03:36: It's a huge gap.

00:03:38: So companies like Mobilecom with their OS three cybersecurity solution, they're tackling this head on.

00:03:43: embedded real time cyber defense.

00:03:46: Think of it like giving each drone its own internal firewall.

00:03:50: Okay, that's absolutely vital for resilience.

00:03:51: We're actually using these things safely.

00:03:53: What other innovations are supporting, say, sustained air missions or broader uses?

00:03:58: Well,

00:03:58: we saw Comtra's historic agreement with DBOX for drone docking solutions.

00:04:02: Sam Den has reported on that.

00:04:04: It's about automated launch and recovery for those longer missions.

00:04:07: Less human workload.

00:04:07: Right, automation.

00:04:08: And then you have in situ Pacific showcasing their advanced UAS capabilities.

00:04:13: They emphasize their, what was it, one point five million flight hours?

00:04:17: That kind of track record builds serious

00:04:19: trust.

00:04:19: That's a lot of hours.

00:04:21: Okay, and any surprising maybe life-saving applications popping up.

00:04:25: Oh, yeah, definitely.

00:04:26: Airbus helicopters are integrating Smith-Meyer's Artemis system.

00:04:30: This is for search and rescue.

00:04:32: Roll-off Yon Gort described how it detects and locates mobile phone signals up to thirty-five kilometers away.

00:04:38: And crucially, it works without needing mobile network operators.

00:04:41: It can map loads of phones quickly.

00:04:43: big boost for star missions.

00:04:45: Incredible really shows the wider impact.

00:04:47: Okay, from the air to the oceans then.

00:04:49: It seems the focus on uncrewed solutions and strategic dependencies is growing there too.

00:04:54: Indeed

00:04:54: it is.

00:04:55: Circo and ACUA Ocean announced a strategic partnership for uncrewed maritime solutions.

00:05:00: Michael Hayes shared that one.

00:05:01: The goal is end to end uncrewed vessel operations, data services, basically persistent surface coverage for defense and offshore sectors without putting crews at risk.

00:05:10: Persistent presence.

00:05:12: That sounds like a leap for autonomous maritime ops,

00:05:16: but

00:05:16: like you mentioned before the tech is only part of it.

00:05:18: What about the people needed?

00:05:20: the bigger picture for naval capability.

00:05:22: Exactly.

00:05:23: Spot on.

00:05:24: Lauren Consecow highlighted this critical theme, the future naval shipbuilding workforce.

00:05:29: There was a forum discussing shared approaches for IUCS, you know?

00:05:32: The IUCS PAC.

00:05:33: Right.

00:05:34: They stressed that a skilled workforce is actually a sovereign capability in itself, foundational, and they called for defense primes and the supply chain to sort of signal demand clearly to the training sector.

00:05:45: Got to build that talent pipeline.

00:05:47: So it's the human capital again.

00:05:48: You need the people and the adaptable solutions to make the tech work.

00:05:51: Okay, let's shift focus now.

00:05:53: Space, PNT, C-IVISR, sensors, the digital backbone and orbital security increasingly critical.

00:06:00: Absolutely.

00:06:01: We saw the launch of a global P&T positioning, navigation, and timing centers of excellence network.

00:06:06: Chris Shaw announced this starting in the UK.

00:06:09: It's specifically to meet navigation and timing security challenges and also scale up manufacturing and support for inertial navigation systems.

00:06:17: And tied to that, the UK Space Agency and UK Space Command were showcasing space domain awareness capabilities, a real national focus there.

00:06:25: Orbital security is huge.

00:06:27: But how are all these complex systems being integrated?

00:06:30: to get that real advantage across domains.

00:06:32: It's not just having the pieces, right?

00:06:33: No, exactly.

00:06:34: Integration is key.

00:06:35: Faley's Consolidating TRS-AMDC-II Hervé Damin announced their full acquisition.

00:06:40: that supports Integrated Airspace Command and Control for NATO.

00:06:44: And they introduced their new offer, SkyView Alliance.

00:06:47: Modular, open, data-centric... It's all about seamless operations, breaking down those silos.

00:06:52: Integrated C-II, crucial.

00:06:54: What's new then in sensing?

00:06:56: Turning raw data into something actionable, especially maybe for the folks on the ground.

00:07:00: Well, Alexandra Ziegler introduced the Jim Sharp Hawk Panoramic Binocular.

00:07:04: It's the successor to the Jim Compact, which many will know.

00:07:07: This new one gets a plus-thirty percent improvement in detection, recognition, identification, DRI performance.

00:07:15: Better connectivity, too, just fundamentally helps soldiers see and understand.

00:07:19: Thirty percent, that's significant.

00:07:20: And speaking of understanding, C-II Grid.

00:07:24: Vladimir Kutz shared how it transforms battlefield video into near real-time, three-D models.

00:07:29: Imagine the planning speed that gives you.

00:07:31: Wow,

00:07:32: real-time, three-D models from video.

00:07:34: Okay, now this is where it gets really interested.

00:07:35: As you said, the digital AI cybernexus, shaping the future force, that intelligence multiplier effect.

00:07:43: What are the foundations being laid?

00:07:45: Well,

00:07:45: a big one is the renewal of the digital skills partnership between AWS and the UK Ministry of Defense.

00:07:50: Mike Naylor signed that.

00:07:51: It's an MU focused squarely on boosting digital skills, delivering that transformation within the mod, investing in the people side of digital.

00:07:58: Yeah, crucial investment in human capital, that makes sense.

00:08:01: And what about leveraging the data itself, the infrastructure, the thinking behind it?

00:08:05: Right, you need that solid foundation.

00:08:07: There was a lot of focus on secure, robust data infrastructure.

00:08:11: Things like self-healing failover, ruggedness, cyber-resilient indelible snapshots.

00:08:17: Daniel Bonch highlighted some of peer storage's advantages there.

00:08:20: It's not just storage, it's ensuring operations continue, secure IT, leveraging analytics even under pressure.

00:08:27: Contributions from Deloitte and CGI were also pointing in this direction, focusing on analytics and secure IT solutions, like Jason Wiltshire Brown highlighted for CGI and Tony Reeves for Deloitte's AI, Digital and Data Team.

00:08:39: So with all this data, all this processing power, AI becomes central.

00:08:43: But what's the approach, especially this human in the loop idea we hear about?

00:08:47: responsibly implementing it.

00:08:49: Yeah, Nemesis AI got a lot of attention for their AI-driven defense applications.

00:08:53: Mihai Philip really stressed that human in the loop readiness, and Eric Fettel elaborated, emphasizing that expert human teams provide flawless data annotation.

00:09:01: That ensures the AI's learning engine is actually reliable, trustworthy.

00:09:05: It's AI augmenting judgment, not replacing it.

00:09:08: Right,

00:09:08: so it's about support, not replacement.

00:09:10: building trust.

00:09:12: And presumably simplifying the complex processes underneath all this is just as important for getting it adopted.

00:09:17: Absolutely.

00:09:17: You hit the nail in the head.

00:09:19: Samuel Dovey announced Neptune DXP's new website showing how their low-code platform simplifies complex SAP processes for defense organizations, modernizing logistics, ensuring interoperability with allies.

00:09:33: It makes digital transformation faster, safer, and frankly just easier to manage, taking the complexity out of the back end.

00:09:40: tying it all together, operational advantage, national resilience.

00:09:44: What were the big takeaways for digital transformation overall?

00:09:48: Michael Neville summarized insights from a panel.

00:09:50: key things were setting strong foundations, defaulting to open standards and architectures, being predictive with AI use cases, removing domain boundaries, and creating national resilience through a whole of society approach.

00:10:03: And a really critical point they raised was that wasting time is more costly than wasting money.

00:10:07: That really highlights the institutional challenge, you know, speed of acquisition.

00:10:11: That is a powerful statement.

00:10:12: The need for speed.

00:10:15: And what about how we think about data itself and making decisions?

00:10:18: It's not just about more data, is it?

00:10:20: No, exactly.

00:10:21: Rob Solly reflected on a speech by General Sir Jim Hawkenhall.

00:10:24: The argument was for problem-centric systems over purely data-centric ones.

00:10:30: Data's vital, obviously.

00:10:32: But you need strategic decision aids, processes.

00:10:35: ways to outthink adversaries in this really uncertain world where data alone might not give you the full picture.

00:10:41: It's about applying human intelligence to the data.

00:10:44: Intelligence over just information.

00:10:46: It sounds like all these individual advances.

00:10:49: They're powerful, sure, but only really when they're connected, integrated.

00:10:53: Oh,

00:10:53: totally.

00:10:53: Josh Kennedy White made this crucial point.

00:10:55: He said, without connectivity, these platforms risk becoming paperweights.

00:10:59: Paperweights?

00:11:00: Ouch.

00:11:01: Yeah.

00:11:02: He stressed, it's the resilient, cyber secure network satellites talking to ships, drones to armor, cyber defenses to command posts.

00:11:09: That's what turns individual assets into collective capability.

00:11:12: It's the nervous system giving the steel purpose.

00:11:15: Great analogy, the nervous system.

00:11:17: Okay, so none of this tech exists in a vacuum, does it?

00:11:20: It relies on a robust industrial base, strong partnerships, a cohesive community.

00:11:25: What's happening there?

00:11:25: Well, we saw the strategic partnership between Unipart and KBR,

00:11:29: Inc.,

00:11:30: Jim Hart's horn announced that one.

00:11:32: The aim is strengthening defense supply chains' performance, combining Unipart's logistics and digital side with KBR's defense systems engineering expertise, building that resilient backbone.

00:11:44: Supply chain resilience, absolutely critical, especially now.

00:11:48: What about the wider landscape?

00:11:49: challenges within the UK industry.

00:11:51: Rishi Kanodia, he referenced a report with EY and AMRC.

00:11:55: It identified some persistent challenges, things like fragmented demand signals, innovation getting stuck mid pipeline, complex qualification processes, funding gaps, systemic issues.

00:12:06: Those sound like significant hurdles, needs collective effort.

00:12:09: How are international partnerships playing into this?

00:12:11: especially with, you know, the complex geopolitics.

00:12:14: Well, Team Defense Australia, they had a strong presence at the AUS Pavilion.

00:12:17: Dak Hardwick noted how instrumental that was in helping companies figure out ITAR exemptions.

00:12:22: The ITAR rules, yeah.

00:12:24: Important for collaboration

00:12:25: crucial and we also saw Canada and the UK reinforcing defense collaboration.

00:12:30: Stephen first showcased the BAE Tech.

00:12:32: twenty six global combat ship is a good example of allies converging on priorities and Leveraging Canadian industrial capacity.

00:12:40: So collaboration is key internationally to beyond the business and policy though DSEI is clearly about relationships community.

00:12:47: Absolutely that came through strongly.

00:12:49: Alex Wamsley noted the SAFA and Avon protection joint hundred and fortieth anniversary celebration on HMS Belfast, a nice link between industry and long-standing service support.

00:13:00: And several posts, Diddy Bee, Matt Hill, others, they all underlined the value of enduring relationships, trust, that military ethos.

00:13:07: It's still about people and connections at the heart of it all.

00:13:10: Effective networking matters.

00:13:12: You know, if we connect all this, the rapid innovation, the complex integration we talked about from AI to securing mission computers, it really highlights a crucial underlying challenge, doesn't it?

00:13:21: How do we make sure that the human in the loop, our strategic thinking, our adaptability, our critical judgment stays central, not just for ethics, but as the ultimate factor that actually out-thinks and out-maneuvers adversaries in this digital battle space.

00:13:33: It's leveraging tech to empower judgment, not bypass

00:13:37: it.

00:13:37: That's a powerful question.

00:13:38: Definitely something to keep considering as this all evolves.

00:13:41: You've been listening to the deep dive.

00:13:43: If you enjoyed this deep dive, new episodes dropped every two weeks.

00:13:46: Also check out our other editions on cloud, digital products and services, artificial intelligence and ICT and tech insights, health tech, defense tech.

00:13:54: Thank you for joining us and we look forward to having you back for our next deep dive.