How AI is really being used in war Our podcast on science and technology. Is artificial intelligence living up to its promise on the battlefield?

How AI is really being used in war

Great to hear my v.smart colleague @JamesLawson on the excellent @theeconomistnews.bsky.social Science Podcast ‘Babbage’ with @shashj.bsky.social & Alok Jha showing how Helsing is pioneering military AI to protect our democracies
economist.com/podcasts/202...

Up bright & early heading to London for the #AuroraForum

Excited to represent Helsing & engage with decision-makers from across Nordic-Baltic region
- especially on learning the right lessons from #Ukraine 🇺🇦 to address our vulnerability to Russian threat by embracing new defence tech

Procurement must be Timely as well as Transparent

✅ We have to move at the speed of relevance, the speed of military and geopolitical need.

❌Legacy models will be too slow and too expensive.

Key message from Stephen Fuhr PC MP CD 🇨🇦 to a packed hall at the impressive CDAI #OttawaConference

Russian forces report strikes by German HX-2 drones Ukrainian forces are increasingly employing German-made HX-2 one-way strike drones along multiple frontline sectors, according to reporting by Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi. Militarnyi reported ...

Learning on the Front Line.
Hitting high-values targets at depth.
Helsing in #Ukraine

defence-blog.com/russian-forc...

Great to be at #CafeKyiv today & proud that Helsing supported this important event. It’s been inspiring to hear so many insightful points, catch up with friends united in the fight for our free future, & to see such strong political & public support for the defining cause of our times.

What a difference a year makes.

The moment you arrive, you know this year’s Munich Security Conference will be different. #MSC2026

As @nicolange.bsky.social said so powerfully at the @atlantikbruecke.bsky.social dinner
- Europe needs to grow its backbone.

Helsing provides the tools to do just that.
@munsecconf.bsky.social

Europe needs its own deterrent The former Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, is calling for Europe to have a deterrent of its own. In his view, Berlin has a central role to play here.

Bottom line
Europe needs *both* a Berlin-centred shield & a distributed national deterrent asap.
Failure to build credible deterrence risks being forced to fight on Russia’s terms - or being coerced & risking our democracies & our freedom.
@glandsbergis.bsky.social

table.media/en/security/...

🛡 Speed matters on the Eastern Flank
Lithuania can’t wait years for heavy platforms. Rapidly fielded mass strike drones & 'deep & cheap' precision weapons would immediately complicate RU planning [if integrated into operational concept & with political will to use them!]
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🇺🇦 Ukraine shows what’s possible
Ukraine has used precision strikes to disrupt Russian forces deep behind the front & hit critical Russian assets. At greater scale, and strategically conducted, such capabilities would be a powerful deterrent.
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🇱🇹 Track two: distributed national deterrence
European states (especially on the flank) need quickly usable, national-level strike capabilities that don’t depend on lengthy NATO deliberation, which can buy time & allow allies to join the fight.
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So we need a new twin-track approach to deterrence

🇩🇪 Track one: centralised European deterrence
Germany has the economic and industrial weight to anchor European defence, but rearmament timelines are too slow. Rapid procurement & fielding of massed capability is essential.
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🕰 Slower, weaker responses
The swift backlash after Salisbury in 2018 contrasts sharply with today’s drawn-out investigations and committees—something the Kremlin clearly notices.
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So, @glandsbergis.bsky.social argues that there’s still too much comforting (but dangerous) legacy thinking.

📜Europe’s outdated assumption-
For decades, challenging Europe also meant challenging the US. That assumption no longer fully holds, particularly on NATO’s eastern flank.
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🇷🇺Russia is testing our limits
Moscow senses the shift, & the weakening of our deterrence, probing NATO airspace, infrastructure, and borders through persistent hybrid attacks without facing serious consequences.
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Key elements of @glandsbergis.bsky.social’s argument

🇺🇸 US shift & a weakening deterrent in the emerging new world order.

Washington no longer treats European defence as a core interest [to put it mildly]. Commitments feel conditional, & deterrence—fundamentally psychological—is eroding.🧵

Europe needs its own deterrent The former Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, is calling for Europe to have a deterrent of its own. In his view, Berlin has a central role to play here.

ICYMI! Great piece from @glandsbergis.bsky.social from before xmas on why Europe needs a new, two-track approach to deterrence - & fast!

Europe’s security situation is changing fast— pretending otherwise is becoming dangerous & GL’s piece is even more pertinent now
🧵

table.media/en/security/...

Great interview @shashj.bsky.social - & a super way to get a clearer understanding of Helsing’s vision, how we’re supplying Ukraine with advanced strike drones & building the capabilities that Europe needs for effective deterrence.

Europe has the tools to take our future in our hands.

Absolutely!

A New Way of Warfare Requires More Than New Tech When I look back at my 45 years of military service, one of the highlights of my military education was a battlefield tour I participated in during 2001

New Tech ≠ Military Transformation - or advantage.

A powerful reminder from fmr UK CDS Nick Carter in his new @WarOnTheRocks article

Learning from #Ukraine & military history, real change needs integration, vision & realistic experimentation at scale

warontherocks.com/2026/01/a-ne...

@phillipspobrien.bsky.social @carlomasala1.bsky.social
@warinthefuture.bsky.social @zackcooper.bsky.social

Very pleased to make this list.

Thanks for including me @bctallis.bsky.social

My top 20 reads of 2025
(incl a few evergreen re-reads)

These books materially shaped how I think and work — and several translated directly into real professional impact.

I’ve got a strong list for 2026, but I’m keen to sharpen it: 
- what should I be reading next?

Military need & geopolitical reality not bureaucratic timelines or fiscal shortsightedness must drive Europe’s rearmament.

We need to align pol, Econ & mil timelines to transform our forces, fast.

Delayed deterrence is failed deterrence
- & failed deterrence costs so much more.

👇

Honoured to be at @rusi.bsky.social for CDS lecture in London.

A broad ‘whole of society’ vision & strong words on lethality, but as the questions showed, UK need to dispel a perceived ‘say-do gap’.

Building on Atlantic Bastion model to get new capability at speed & scale would do just that.

Next leg of the Winterreise.

After a brief festive pit stop in beautiful #Prague, I’m now back on the road, heading to #London for meetings with experts & a special event.

We have so much to protect - & much to do to protect it, but wherever I’ve been so far we’re stepping up.

Baby, it’s cold outside!
Wonderful, short but intense wintry trip to #Ottawa.

Great to check in with
experts, policy shapers & industry players

& feel the energy for defence transformation & building military capability using AI.

Geopolitical winter is coming but we need to be #preparednotscared

Political will meets cutting edge expertise & industrial dynamism.
⏩🇩🇪🇨🇦🦾

It was an honour to co-lead the session on rising to new security challenges at the excellent German-Canadian AI Symposium in Montreal in the company of political, industry & AI leaders.

Now we all need to deliver.

Munich was looking wonderfully festive, & it was a wrench to leave after such a flying visit - though we crammed a lot of work in with a high-intensity engagement with military leaders.

But, it’s already ‘giddy up Jingle Horse’, and on to Montreal via, a lovely dawn, for the AI symposium.