Sovereign AI: New Partnership to Bolster UK National Security
Defence Holdings PLC (LSE: ALRT), the UK’s first listed software-led defence company, has signed a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) with Whitespace, a leading UK technology company specialising in AI infrastructure for defence, national security, and regulated public sector operations.
The Strategic Defence Review accurately identifies digital transformation as fundamental to achieving a step change in UK defence capabilities. Whitespace and Defence Holdings are partnering to accelerate this transformation, delivering innovative, sovereign solutions that address the urgent challenges of today’s geopolitical landscape.
This collaboration uniquely combines Whitespace’s proven AI expertise with Defence Holdings’ deep domain knowledge and strategic vision. Together, we're committed to supporting the delivery of deployable software infrastructure at the speed and scale modern threats demand, enhancing defence productivity – doing more with less – and enabling a faster, more effective response to emerging threats. Together, we're dedicated to providing secure, auditable, and resilient AI-powered solutions for the UK and our allies.
The Letter of Intent, announced today, outlines the mission to establish a long-term, strategic partnership that will accelerate the development and deployment of sovereign, software-first capabilities across the UK and our allied partners’ defence environments.
This move supports Defence Holdings’ five-year strategic plan to build deployable software infrastructure at the speed and scale modern threats demand and leverages the expertise and capabilities of the Whitespace team and our mission to significantly enhance defence productivity (do more with less) as well as better enable the UK’s ability to respond to threats quickly and effectively.
As the global defence sector shifts from hardware-led to software-first, demand is growing for deployable AI solutions that meet military-grade standards of trust, auditability, and resilience. Traditional contractors are struggling to adapt fast enough, creating space for sovereign, software-native players. Areas of focus will be:
● Autonomous decision support systems
● Secure intelligence analysis and threat detection
● Multi-domain situational awareness platforms
Andrew Webber, Chief Partnership Officer at Whitespace, “This partnership with Defence Holdings is how we chose, as a company, to respond to the SDR and Defence Reform and see how industry could respond positively and quickly to drive a greater speed of technology development against Defence’s unmet needs”
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