The UK’s Armed Forces will be strengthened by a new cutting-edge platform that will seek to revolutionise how the military manages and maintains its equipment, driving efficiency and creating more than 100 highly-skilled jobs.

The new platform will use AI to help ensure Armed Forces have the right equipment in the right place at the right time, delivering on the ambitions of the Strategic Defence Review.

The £320 million contract with IBM UK for the Defence Equipment Engineering Asset Management Systems (DEEAMS) will – according to the UK Gov – create 100 new highly-skilled jobs in the UK.

The new system will replace 17 fragmented, siloed and outdated applications with one enabled modern streamlined platform, using AI to bring over £1 billion in benefits such as savings on support and IT costs. It will provide personnel with real-time information to predict maintenance and repairs, stock availability, and engineering planning across major equipment and platforms.

It will also enable the adoption of future productivity-enhancing technologies, making sure the UK’s Armed Forces stay at forefront of defence innovation and capability.

Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, Luke Pollard MP, said: “This is a major step forward in our commitment to ensuring our military has the very best equipment support available.

“We are revolutionising how we provide our front-line personnel with the kit they need, when they need it, whether they’re operating at home or deployed overseas.

“We are delivering on the Government’s Plan for Change with this £320 million investment, creating 100 new skilled jobs here in the UK and driving defence as an engine for growth.”

This government is delivering the biggest transformation of UK defence in a generation to reshape how the military protects Britain against unprecedented global threats. This is backed with the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the Cold War, rising to 2.6% of GDP by 2027, with an ambition for hitting 3% in the next Parliament.

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Serving over 65,000 users across more than 130 major military platforms and assets, the system will improve the quality and speed of military decision making, boost operational effectiveness, and support the resilience of digital networks.

Rahul Kalia, Managing Partner, IBM Consulting UKI, said: “IBM is proud to support the Ministry of Defence to deliver the transformational DEEAMS programme to enable a next generation, full-lifecycle asset management solution for the UK Armed Forces. Working with our ecosystem partners, we will deliver this mission-critical platform with predictive intelligence and real-time data driven insights to improve planning and support strategic decision making.”