The Royal Navy is using artificial intelligence for the first time at sea in a bid to defeat missile attacks. Leading-edge software is being tested at sea against live missiles during the largest exercise of its type off the coasts of Scotland and Norway. Involving more than 3,000 military personnel, exercise Formidable Shield tests the ability of NATO warships to detect, track and defeat incoming missiles, from sea-skimming weapons traveling at twice the speed of sound to ballistic missiles. Three Royal Navy warships are taking part in the exercise, which runs until early June: destroyer HMS Dragon and two frigates, Lancaster and Argyll. HMS Lancaster and Dragon are trialing artificial intelligence and machine learning applications which offer a glimpse of the future of air defence at sea.

The Royal Navy is using artificial intelligence for the first time at sea in a bid to defeat missile attacks. Leading-edge software is being tested at sea against live missiles during the largest exercise of its type off the coasts of Scotland and Norway. Involving more than 3,000 military personnel, Formidable Shield tests the ability of NATO warships to detect, track and defeat incoming missiles, from sea-skimming weapons travelling at twice the speed of sound just above the waterline, to ballistic missiles. Three Royal Navy warships are taking part in the exercise, which runs until early June: destroyer HMS Dragon and two frigates, Lancaster and Argyll. HMS Lancaster and Dragon are trialing artificial intelligence and machine learning applications which offer a glimpse of the future of air defence at sea.

The Royal Navy is planning to step up its use of AI to improve maritime defence, beginning with STARTLE, which is AI software that can can spot potential threats. At a briefing titled "Artificial Intelligence in Royal Navy Warships" hosted by non-profit TechUK, Blighty's navy announced it was keen to explore the potential of using machine-learning to improve operational capability in its fighting units under Project NELSON. Developed by Roke Manor Research, the company claims it is the first supplier to integrate AI software into a Defence Science and Technology Laboratory-sponsored maritime combat system demonstrator. Mike Hook, lead software architect on STARTLE at Roke, told The Register: "It's hard to implement new technology in warships because it has so much proprietary software. But integrating STARTLE will give it new data to do trials with."