London's first defense tech hackathon brings Ukraine war closer to London startups

Last week, Britain announced its largest ever military aid package for Ukraine. The bill would bring Britain's total aid to $3 billion this year, less than the $50 billion recently pledged by the United States, but still a significant amount.

But while most of these funds will be spent on very traditional military hardware, a new technology initiative launched last weekend aims to strengthen Ukraine's asymmetric warfare capabilities against Russia. It was. In fact, the London Defense Technology Hackathon was the first ever event to bring together some of the UK's brightest minds in technology, venture capital and national security in a military setting. The idea was to hack ideas to help Ukraine while at the same time creating a much more porous layer between the fast-paced civilian technology world and the very different military world.

The two were put together by Future Force's Skyraland Richard Pass' Alex Fitzgerald and were joined by co-sponsors including Honorary Artillery Company, Apollo Defense, Lambda Automata, D3 VC, among others.

The event brought together skilled developers in both hardware and software to foster innovation in defense, national security, and deep technology. Emphasis was placed on drones and their applications on the battlefield, both the hardware and electronic systems needed to fly them to targets and counter-drone systems.

As most observers of war have pointed out, this war has taken on a whole new dimension compared to previous wars. Ukraine has sought to repel its much larger aggressor, Russia, in asymmetrical ways, with drones and electronic countermeasures becoming mainstream today.

Mr. Fitzgerald told me: “He has three groups of people coming to these events: builders, investors, and the military.” I think everyone is trying to convince their colleagues to think more about defense technology as an option to build or invest in.

He explained that there are two main jobs: electronic warfare and unmanned aerial vehicles or air systems. There are abbreviations I learned from people smarter than me. The future of defense technology will be small, cheap, and unmanned.

He explained that one of the main objectives is to get people who have not previously been involved in defense to build and invest in defense. We have people like the NATO Innovation Fund and the UK National Security Strategic Investment Fund. Well, there are people who are already investing in defense and there are people who have never thought about investing before. ”

He chose the hackathon format because of its focus on getting things done. Don't just talk about construction, hire an actual builder. In fact, that's where most of the innovation is happening.

One of the inspirations for this event was the Defense Technology Hackathon held in El Segundo, California in February of this year.

“I think the important thing about military technology is to make it as easy to use and as powerful as some of the consumer technologies that have been built,” Fitzgerald said. Some of the latest military systems. ”

Katarina Buchatsky, representative of Apollo Defense, also attended the event. As the engineers stared at the cameras, Starlink, and drones, she said to me: Defense technology is a difficult industry to break into. And, for obvious reasons, this market is difficult to penetrate. Defense technology can seem like a giant black box of contracts and technology to be built that can take 10 years, so hackathons have proven to be a very exciting way for people to get involved. [are often] hidden from public view. Hackathon time is his 24 hours. Let's make something really cool.

Interceptor completed

He said the company had great success with the El Segundo event.

We just realized that if people think it's something that's accessible to them, [and] She said she wanted to be involved because she could do something right away and make an impact.

Buchatsky, a Ukrainian, also spoke strongly about Ukraine. These are very real things to me. When I say I need a drone detector, I'm looking at the drone detector outside my window and my neighbor is about to get killed because it didn't detect it in time. It's from. That is the reality we are facing.

She added that it's important for hackathon participants to know they're building for someone, and that it could actually save my family's life.

Despite the controversy surrounding defense technology in some quarters, being involved in technology means being interested in a better future, she added. And I really, really can't think of a more interesting and better future than one that guarantees safety and peace.

NATO was also represented in the form of the NATO Investment Fund, a €1 billion fund to invest in defense technology over the next few years.

Fund partner Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky said the fund was created to support startups that strengthen collective defense safety and resilience. We invest in dual-use deep technology, and this fund was conceived before the Ukraine war. Conflict is currently having a significant impact on our investment thesis, and we are keen to invest in defense technologies that make Europe safer and more secure.

But why did NATO fund the hackathon?

I think defense technology is new to many founders and developers,” Schneider-Sikorsky said. “For them, understanding the problem statement and challenges and accessing end users is not that easy.

He said the hackathon format is particularly suited to that. Typically, it would take many founders months, if not years, to connect with the right people at the Department of Defense, but many of them are here today. So, hopefully things will accelerate a lot.

Another participating investor, Alex Flamant of HCVC, told me: “Europeans need to invest in appropriate defense technology.'' From an investor's perspective, there appeared to be limits to the investments of certain investors. One of the goals of this is to demystify what this is like among young builders, and really to make people more aware of the great mission that we're all working on. .

Machine learning specialists came to focus on drone detection. It lies in our knowledge of machine vision and object detection. Ukraine is currently fighting for all of Europe, with Britain clearly at the center of it. It is essential that we ally with them and leverage what we can help.

The Hasson was held at a time of heightened tensions over the use of technology in defence.

Google, for example, recently fired 28 employees following sit-in protests over its controversial Project Nimbus contract with Israel.

But it is clear that defense is emerging as a technology challenge.

Anduril has recently advanced the Pentagon's plans to develop unmanned combat aircraft, and as we learned last year, venture capital more broadly is opening the door to defense technology.

And in the UK, there is a lot of discussion about the possibility of high-power lasers being included in the next wave of weapons. The Dragonfire weapon is accurate enough to hit a coin from a kilometer away and costs just $15 to launch, according to the Ministry of Defense.

The projects that came out of the hackathon may not have been very sci-fi, but they were pretty close. How about “Fast Interceptor to Defeat Orlando Lawn”? And at least it's likely to be fielded much sooner than laser guns.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/28/londons-first-defense-tech-hackathon-brings-ukraine-war-closer-to-the-citys-startups/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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