Up to 12 British Companies Will Be Able to Train AI on Ukrainian Avengers Labs Platform

Up to 12 British companies will be able to join the Ukrainian Avengers Labs platform, designed to train AI models for unmanned systems using real battlefield data.

This was reported by the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.

As the ministry emphasized, program participants will not be able to download the dataset; instead, they will test and train their AI models within the secure environment of Avengers Labs.

The initiative was made possible by a partnership agreement between Ukraine and the United Kingdom in the field of artificial intelligence, signed in late August 2026 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

The collaboration will cover three interrelated areas:

• intergovernmental cooperation on the joint development of models, secure data exchange channels, access to computing resources, and joint assurance of reliability;
• industry collaboration, to be coordinated within the framework of intergovernmental agreements for the development, testing, and implementation of AI-based capabilities related to agreed-upon operational tasks;
• collaboration among academic and research institutions in the areas of autonomy, AI reliability, cybersecurity, and synthetic data.

A priority is the development of new artificial intelligence models for swarms of unmanned systems. Artificial intelligence will enable such systems to interact with one another and detect threats and enemy targets.

The first competition under the UK-Ukraine partnership calls for the creation of AI models that will enable unmanned systems to operate more effectively under conditions of limited communication with operators or global navigation systems in challenging battlefield environments.

Based on the competition results, up to 12 companies whose proposals meet the requirements of the Ukrainian and British defense ministries will be selected. The application period runs through October 22, and selected companies must report their results by November 6. Companies will be able to access the platform after the Ukrainian side completes export control procedures.

The United Kingdom will support Ukraine through its leading universities, researchers, technology companies, and its AI ecosystem—the third-largest in the world. Ukraine will be able to draw on British expertise to accelerate the development of solutions to pressing problems, as well as to transform combat experience and unique datasets into technologies that will benefit both countries in the long term.

Avengers Labs

At the heart of Avengers Labs lies an annotated dataset of over 5 million frames collected directly on the battlefield. Most of this data is transmitted from unmanned systems via the DELTA combat management system in an anonymized form and with a delay to avoid putting military personnel at risk during combat operations.

The dataset covers a wide range of targets:

• enemy tanks;
• artillery;
• air defense systems;
• infantry;
• airborne objects, including Shahed-type UAVs and reconnaissance drones.

The data is constantly updated and expanded, maintaining its practical value in combat conditions. More than 30 Ukrainian defense companies are already training their own AI models using Avengers Labs, and three such systems are being successfully deployed on the battlefield.