AI and digitalisation for defence: AVM Ola Fashade, Cyber and Specialist Operations Command

Included within the Defence Investment Plan was a number of major new programmes including Taskforce RAID designed to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence both on the frontline and across core defence networks.

Session overview

In this session, AVM Ola Fashade will brief techUK members on how these programmes, alongside other related initiatives, are driving forward the digital transformation of the Ministry of Defence across Frontline Commands and supporting functions. The briefing will offer members insight into the MOD's evolving approach to AI adoption, the practical challenges of scaling these technologies across defence, and the opportunities this creates for industry partners looking to support the department's digitalisation agenda.

Speaker

Air Vice-Marshal Ola Fashade is Director Strategy and Military Digitalisation (DSMD) within Cyber and Specialist Operations Command, a role he took up in May 2025.

His career spans engineering and communications leadership, including command roles with the Tactical Communications Wing, RAF Wyton (2014–15), and 90 Signals Unit (2022), alongside operational deployments across the Middle East and South Asia, including Helmand Province, Qatar, and a secondment to the US 101st Airborne Division in Baghdad. He is a graduate of the UK Advanced and Higher Command and Staff courses, with senior staff experience including a Military Assistant role at MOD Main Building, managing a £1.4Bn programme within UKStratCom Defence Digital, and serving as one-star ACOS J6 at the Permanent Joint Headquarters (2022–24).