British soldiers have successfully tested a new digital targeting web called Asgard while they were deployed on Nato’s eastern flank, the Ministry of Defence has revealed.
Asgard allows soldiers to locate and hit enemy targets at far greater distances.
The project, named after the home of the Norse gods, uses AI and communications to help personnel with rapid targeting and decision-making.
This latest initiative is part of the Army’s drive to increase its lethality tenfold within the next decade.
“We are learning the lessons from Ukraine so our frontline personnel can strike further and faster and maintain advantage over our adversaries,” said Defence Procurement Minister Maria Eagle.
“Asgard exemplifies the vision of the Strategic Defence Review, with speed and world-class capability achieved by bringing together military, Government and industry professionals with a focus on rapid frontline delivery.”
The digital targeting web was shown to allies and industry partners in London.
Asgard is included in a programme to create a wider digital targeting web across the UK’s Armed Forces by 2027, which has been handed over £1bn in funding.
General Sir Roly Walker, the Chief of the General Staff, said the technology is a “transformation in how we find, fund and fight with cutting-edge capabilities”.
“Asgard helps double our lethality and exponentially reduces the time to see, decide and strike. What took hours, now takes minutes,” he added.
“Today, the UK possesses a similar recce-strike system to the one used by Ukraine to maul Russian forces in the Donbas.
“That system now sits at the heart of our Forward Land Forces in Estonia.”
Defence Secretary John Healey first announced Asgard in October 2024, and the contracts were awarded in January this year.
The prototype was delivered to soldiers on Nato’s Exercise Hedgehog in Estonia four months later.
The Strategic Defence Review, which was published in June, recommended a shift towards a greater use of autonomy and AI within the Armed Forces.
Asgard will next focus on improving lethality at corps and divisional levels.
Project Asgard in action
A defence company has been showing how the technology will work in practice as it linked a drone to the new targeting software, according to footage released on LinkedIn.
An HX-2 AI-enabled drone was paired with Helsing’s Altra targeting software, enabling the uncrewed vehicle to detect and launch attacks at spectacular speeds.
British engineers created the intellectual property for its production, use and export.
“We are particularly proud of the collaboration between tacticians and technicians,” Gen Sir Roly said in the LinkedIn post on Helsing’s profile.
“Together we must now scale and share it to multiply Nato’s fighting power and deterrence on its eastern flank.”
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