The UK and France are joining forces to confront digital warfare and protect critical modern technologies from escalating cyber threats.
In an era when a smartphone’s map can guide you to a café and cargo ships traverse oceans using satellite navigation, the idea of those systems failing is alarming. That scenario is already playing out in Ukraine, where small, inexpensive devices have been disrupting GPS signals and impacting systems that millions rely on every day.
The collaboration was announced during a visit to Imperial College London, where French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle observed leading AI research being conducted at the institution.
Behind the diplomatic courtesy, there is a stark reality: heavy dependence on space-based navigation has created a vulnerability that maligned actors are keen to exploit.
“France and the UK both have huge ambitions for technology to boost economic growth and strengthen national security,” Kyle said. “It is vital we work with natural partners like our French neighbours in these endeavours, particularly as the threats from hostile state actors only grow.”
This partnership is not solely defensive. Kyle described what he called an “Entente Technologique,” building on the historic Entente Cordiale between the two nations and aiming to renew and expand scientific and technological cooperation.
Life stops when GPS fails
Most people don’t realise how much modern life depends on precise satellite timing. Beyond navigation, satellite signals synchronise bank transactions, stabilise electricity grids, and timestamp communications. When those signals are jammed or degraded, the effects cascade through societies.
Ukraine has become an inadvertent testing ground for this form of warfare: relatively low-cost electronic jamming can undermine complex infrastructure. In response, the UK and France are prioritising resilient alternatives, including enhanced Long Range Navigation (e-LORAN). Operating from ground-based radio towers rather than vulnerable satellites, e-LORAN offers a robust backup when GPS is compromised.
The UK government, collaborating with the National Physical Laboratory and private partners, has been quietly advancing this technology to provide a dependable fallback for critical systems.
Supercomputers and silicon dreams
The collaboration goes beyond navigation into high-performance computing and artificial intelligence. British and French supercomputing centres are linking capabilities to accelerate AI research and development across both countries.
For example, the Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, home to the Isambard-AI system, will work closely with GENCI in France, which runs the country’s AI Factory programme. These facilities perform calculations far beyond the reach of standard computers and are essential for tackling complex scientific problems.
By pooling computing resources and expertise, the UK and France can compete more effectively in the global AI landscape while sharing costs. That cooperation also delivers economic benefits: trade and investment between the countries are already channeling tens of millions into British tech firms, creating jobs and driving innovation across sectors.
The strategic importance of mastering these technologies spans industries—from finance and healthcare to manufacturing and media—so the partnership is as much about economic advantage as it is about security and scientific prestige.
The human element of the UK-France partnership
Technological progress depends on people as much as machines. The partnership recognises that sustained breakthroughs arise from collaboration among researchers, engineers, and policymakers.
The UK’s AI Security Institute and France’s INESIA will hold regular technical workshops, enabling scientists from both countries to share methods, datasets, and practical solutions to frontier AI challenges. These forums emphasise incremental, rigorous work that often leads to the most significant advances.
Research institutions from both nations have already formalised cooperation, acknowledging that global problems—climate change, pandemic preparedness, and technological security—require cross-border collaboration.
The partnership will also be highlighted when UK AI Minister Feryal Clark and French Minister Clara Chappaz visit the Diamond Light Source in Oxford, a facility that uses extremely bright X-ray beams to study everything from virus structures to new drug candidates.
UK and France race against increasing cyber threats
All of this unfolds against a backdrop of growing geopolitical competition and rising cyber threats. Both countries face persistent challenges from state and non-state actors aiming to disrupt infrastructure and gain technological advantage.
Rather than relying solely on larger allies or going it alone, the UK and France are betting on strategic bilateral cooperation as a pragmatic path forward. The aim is to combine strengths and act with greater autonomy while maintaining shared democratic values.
There is urgency to this work. Each day that vital infrastructure remains exposed to jamming or cyberattacks gives adversaries opportunities to identify weaknesses and develop countermeasures. The conflict in Ukraine has offered a clear and sobering preview of modern hybrid warfare tactics.
As digital systems become ever more central to security and prosperity, international collaborations like this are likely to become standard practice. Democracies face the added challenge of moving quickly while preserving transparency and public debate—something authoritarian rivals do not need to balance—so agility and efficient governance will be critical.
The encouraging sign is that both nations appreciate this work as more than building better technology; it is about strengthening the relationships among the scientists, engineers, and policymakers who will shape future systems and standards.
See also: UK Government announces next Emergency Alerts system test
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