Raytheon and Rheinmetall land the British Army's £2 billion AI training contract
The UK's 15-year collective-training award puts a US prime and Germany's Rheinmetall inside the British Army's training pipeline; Rheinmetall's share alone is just under 1 billion euros.
The UK's 15-year collective-training award puts a US prime and Germany's Rheinmetall inside the British Army's training pipeline; Rheinmetall's share alone is just under 1 billion euros.
The UK Ministry of Defence signed a £2 billion ($2.7 billion) contract for AI-based collective training with Omnia Training, a consortium led by Raytheon UK, the ministry announced on Friday. The 15-year deal makes the five companies, Raytheon UK, Capita, Cervus, Rheinmetall UK and Skyral, the British Army's Strategic Training Partner, delivering the Army's Collective Training Service with 44 British businesses in the supply chain.
The core of the purchase is a platform the MoD calls a Combat Laboratory, a digital environment that combines simulation, live exercise feeds and performance analytics. Up to 60,000 soldiers a year will train on it, in exercises that scale from teams of 100 to formations of 50,000, according to the ministry, which said the design draws on lessons from the war in Ukraine.
Rheinmetall put its own share at just under 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion), close to half the contract value, Bloomberg reported. The Düsseldorf group's UK arm is responsible for physical training infrastructure, system setup and logistics, and plans to expand its sites on the Isle of Wight and in Southampton, TheNextWeb wrote. Software from two of the smaller partners, Skyral and Cervus, was developed in the UK with more than £2 million in government innovation funding, including from the Defence and Security Accelerator, and the MoD said the intellectual property remains under UK control.
The award follows the British Army chief of the general staff's claim in June that its ASGARD AI planning system had cut a corps-level planning cycle from 72 hours to one. On jobs, the ministry counts about 400 roles supported, including 270 new positions and 100 apprenticeships run with Wiltshire College and the University of Staffordshire, and places the contract within a £298 billion, four-year Defence Investment Plan.
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Subscribe Free →Implementation begins this summer, per TheNextWeb, and the MoD ties the program to its target of an Army "ten times more lethal" by 2035.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly did the UK Ministry of Defence buy?
A £2 billion ($2.7 billion), 15-year contract for the Army's Collective Training Service, part of the Collective Training Transformation Programme, delivered by the Omnia Training consortium as the British Army's Strategic Training Partner, per the MoD announcement.
Who is in the Omnia Training consortium?
Five UK-based companies: Raytheon UK (lead), Capita, Cervus, Rheinmetall UK and Skyral, drawing on a supply chain of more than 44 British businesses, according to the MoD. Raytheon UK set the consortium up over three years ago, the company said.
What does the "Combat Laboratory" actually do?
It is a digital platform that combines AI, advanced analytics, simulation and virtual environments to run and score collective training. Up to 60,000 soldiers a year will use it, in exercises scaling from 100-soldier teams to formations of 50,000, per the MoD.
How big is Rheinmetall's share?
Rheinmetall put its share at just under 1 billion euros ($1.14 billion), close to half the contract value, Bloomberg reported. Its UK arm delivers the physical training infrastructure, setup and logistics, and plans to expand sites on the Isle of Wight and in Southampton, per TheNextWeb.
Is the technology actually British?
The software from consortium members Skyral and Cervus is UK-developed, backed by more than £2 million in government innovation funding, and the MoD says the intellectual property stays under UK control. The lead contractor is the UK arm of a US prime, and Rheinmetall is German.
When does the new training system start?
Implementation begins in summer 2026, per TheNextWeb, and the contract runs for 15 years. The MoD ties the program to its goal of a "ten times more lethal" British Army by 2035.
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Marcus Schuler
Marcus Schuler edits BattlePolicy, a daily defense-technology brief connecting the companies and capabilities behind modern war to the contest among Europe, the US, Russia, and China.