Mind Foundry's Response to the Strategic Defence Review

The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) 2025 lays out a bold and necessary vision to make Britain safer, secure at home, and strong abroad in the face of threats that are more serious and less predictable than at any time since the Cold War. It calls for a complete modernisation of National Security and Defence from reducing the lengthy procurement process to leveraging new technologies and AI by investing in innovation created by SMEs.  

We have known this day would come and have been preparing for it.  

The SDR states that to succeed, Defence must be more purposeful in its approach to industry by prioritising: 

“UK-based business, Defence should aim high: success should be measured in the number and scale of deep tech suppliers in the UK in areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), autonomy, advanced manufacturing, quantum, and space—with high-Intellectual Property (IP) companies delivering leading-edge capabilities for Defence while creating high-skilled, high-paid jobs and driving exports in software, IP, and equipment.” (p.51) 

Since we decided to enter the defence sector in 2021, we have been steadily building the UK Sovereign AI technologies and capabilities that will play a role in this next chapter of national security, resilience, and technological innovation.  The SDR’s focus on strengthening homeland defence and protecting our national interests aligns directly with our purpose: to develop outcome-focused, values-driven machine learning solutions that empower human decision-makers and uphold the standards the UK is known for. 



"The SDR’s ambitions are urgent and necessary, and we are fully prepared to play our part. We look forward to working closely with the Ministry of Defence, Strategic Command, prime contractors, and other innovative UK companies. We all need to work together to modernise Defence in the face of these very real threats. "  - Mind Foundry Chief Operator Officer, Lindsay Chadwick. 

Read the full SDR.