Hackathons help UK defence tech take flight
Sandhurst isn’t the first place one might liken to Silicon Valley. Yet, the Royal Military Academy – long a symbol of tradition in British defence – is becoming a new hub for defence technology innovation.
At a recent 24 hour defence tech hackathon, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst hosted coders, engineers and military veterans alike, working on live operational challenges to deliver functional prototypes in a single day.
This is part of a broader shift in the UK and across Europe toward leaner, faster pathways for developing defence technology.
The model borrows heavily from the startup world, with a greater emphasis on rapid iteration and field testing, rather than long procurement cycles.
Teams tackled tasks such as navigating drones in GPS-denied environments, building low-cost battlefield sensors from off-the-shelf components, and designing autonomous systems for casualty evacuation.
One team’s anti-drone solution, already tested in Ukraine, has already drawn interest from investors.
While hackathons are well-established in the software sector, their application in defence marks a strategic evolution.
The format is low-cost and outcome-driven, fitting a wider effort by UK defence stakeholders to reduce friction between innovation and implementation.
Responding to geopolitical pressure
The urgency behind these efforts is clear, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposing significant weaknesses in Europe’s defence procurement and outdated tech.
Added geopolitical pressures, including uncertainty about US commitments to NATO under Trump, have accelerated the need for countries like the UK to modernise their capabilities independently.
The UK government is responding with a significant strategic push. Defence spending is set to rise by £13.4bn annually by 2027, pushing the total budget beyond £70bn.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged a “sustained increase” to 2.5 per cent of GDP, with a longer-term target of three per cent, although some critics argue a fully funded plan remains elusive.
Meanwhile, Labour has launched its own Strategic Defence Review, promising to build 12 attack submarines and six munitions factories, while emphasising the importance of reaching the three per cent GDP target.
This renewed focus on defence spending comes with an emphasis on speed and efficiency.
Procurement cycles for drones, AI, and software that once took six years are now being cut to just three months.
The upcoming launch of UK Defence Innovation, a new agency with a £400m budget, aims to ensure that at least 10 per cent of equipment spending is allocated toward emerging technologies.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is opening its doors wider to new suppliers through a ‘marketplace’ platform designed to connect innovative firms in software, AI and data, with traditional defence buyers.
Companies like Adaraga, Haedean, and Oxford Dynamics have already signed up.
Defence secretary John Healey made the sector’s ambitions clear at the London Stock Exchange, stating: “A military is only as strong as the industry that stands behind it. UK defence is open for business”.
A startup mindset
Hackathons may seem a modest piece of the puzzle, but they embody a fundamental cultural shift – a move towards an almost startup-like mindset, where rapid prototyping and user-focused iteration take priority.
“Build a prototype. Turn it into a product. Then build a company to deliver it to the frontlines”, advised Benjamin Wolba, organiser of the defence tech Hackathon.
Despite this momentum, Europe’s defence tech ecosystem still trails the US by approximately five years, according to McKinsey.
Yet, venture capital is flowing at an accelerating pace – Pitchbook data recently revealed that investment in European defence startups quadrupled between 2021 and 2024.
With the right policy framework and continued investment, the UK has the potential to establish itself as a global hub for defence tech.
It can leverage its extensive research base and entrepreneurial talent to drive innovation from the lab to the battlefield – it just needs to convert growing investment into operational capability.