18 Nov 2025

The MOD’s AI future from an unstructured data point of view

Guest blog by Nick Pollard, Managing Director at Lightning IQ #DefTechWeek2025

Nick Pollard

Managing Director, Lightning IQ

Introduction

All branches of today’s military will ultimately drown in their own data unless they can learn how to turn an information avalanche into a strategic advantage. The operating picture of tomorrow is a constant surge of unstructured data from almost every corner of the world and in an increasing number of formats: Partner nations; Commercial constellations; Open sources; the Dark web; Field reports; Imagery; Audio; Chat logs; Maintenance notes; Sensor telemetry. Data structures will clash, quality will vary but the torrent will never stop. In that deluge of data, a single credible fragment can tip the balance between loss and success.

However, success will depend on how well the data is understood, not how much is collected. Treat data as a trusted supply chain. Source it, inspect it, fuse it. Ship what matters and retire what does not. Ensure provenance and relevance is attached to every item so a commander acquires confidence at a glance and acts effectively inside the mission clock. Undertake daily hygiene tasks on live data stores so ROT, duplicates and toxic data never reach training or targeting. Bind lineage to models so you know what trained what and why. Then automate the actions that keep tempo high and risk low. When the data is clean, current, trusted and accountable, AI stops being an impotent demonstration and becomes an effective weapon.

Secure

Compromised systems can lead to data breaches, mission failure, or loss of life. At Lightning IQ we fully understand that military operations rely on secure communications, intelligence, and logistics, all of which depend on the integrity of deployed software. That is why we do not compromise on security, Lightning IQ does not effect, change or modify the data in any way. Any actions, are authorised, instigated and controlled by the data owner, with checks and balances, such as full audit trails, in place to mitigate any unintended actions and maintain compliance. Our agentless technology significantly reduces the attack surface and the complexity of management without compromising on performance and scalability, complimenting your existing cybersecurity measures.

Influential

Influence starts with a trusted core. When your data is clean, current and proven, you can act with confidence, and partners can accept your outputs without doubt.

Design for coalition by default and sovereignty by design. Share decision-ready claims instead of raw sources, with provenance, accountability and focus attached. Let audit trails travel with each claim so others can rely on the result without inheriting risk. Where policy limits disclosure, share features or summaries. Lightning IQ supports this posture with event-driven indexing at extreme scale, on-the-fly classification, lineage binding, automated redaction and policy-led actions that keep unstructured content under control before it reaches AI workflows.

Furthermore, the platform is designed to deploy across multi-domain environments – from the strategic enterprise to the tactical edge – integrating non-disruptively with existing systems and classification domains.

Trusted

Trust grows from discipline. Apply operational rules to new data the moment it appears. Use a programmatic, event-driven layer that inspects each item on arrival, regardless of format, and decides: accept, quarantine, or discard. Noise is filtered out early. Only decision-ready material proceeds.

Control must be visible. Classify at capture and attach lineage so every record and model shows what was used, by whom, and for what purpose. Sensitive entities are blocked from training by default, with explicit approvals required to override. Continuous checks look for contamination and hostile manipulation; binary-level change is detected early so teams can warn, contain and recover without losing tempo. Critically, this technical integrity provides the auditable governance required for Responsible AI and ethical oversight.

This is how trust becomes operational. Clean, accounted-for inputs produce trusted model outputs, so leaders can act with confidence.

Effective

Effectiveness is enabled by decision tempo: source to understanding to truth to decision. Data must land decision-ready and with provenance, not as a deluge. Treat it as a real-time supply chain: capture, validate, enrich, fuse, route, retire. Data platforms must be format-agnostic and event-driven, able to cope with text, imagery, audio, telemetry, chat and open-source feeds the moment they arrive. Lightning IQ operates in that mode, processing up to ten million items per second, classifying on the fly and attaching confidence and lineage to every claim. The data picture refreshes in minutes, not weeks; machine proposals carry their workings; commanders can accept or refuse with context and confidence, so pilot insights scale to operations without slowing tempo.

Efficient

Efficient means processing what is responsive and ignoring the noise. Build a living, event-driven index that forms as data arrives, rank signals by policy, and lets the rest expire. It works in situ, across any format, without copying data around or moving it into a separate store.

Lightning IQ functions this way: an event pipeline that can handling millions of items per second, classify on the fly, and attach provenance so only decision-ready claims move forward. Throughput can be throttled to meet infrastructure capabilities and protect live operations. Routine actions are automatic, including deduplicate, archive, encrypt, redact, and delete with approvals when necessary. Evidence packs are produced when requested, not weeks or months down the line.

The result is leaner pipes, lower risk, and faster answers when the mission clock is running.

Close

Secure, Influential, Trusted, Effective, Efficient.

We achieve this by putting data first: an event-driven layer that inspects new inputs on arrival, classifies at capture, binds lineage, and automates clean-up and control every day.

Achieve this and decision speed improves, risk drops, and models stay reliable and credible. We deliver operational confidence with provenance attached, enabling both partners and internal stakeholders to act with confidence.

Operationalising DefTech campaign week 2025 #DefTechWeek2025

techUK has launched its Operationalising DefTech 2025 campaign week, highlighting how emerging technologies can strengthen defence capability and accelerate innovation across the sector. The campaign showcases member insights, practical use cases, and opportunities to collaborate on the future of defence technology.

Read them here

Operationalising DefTech: Defence campaign week launch

Launching techUK’s Defence Campaign Week, Operationalising DefTech, techUK is pleased to welcome John Cunningham, the Director of UK Defence Innovation within the Ministry of Defence to brief members on MOD’s evolving approach to new technologies, alongside the co-founder of Anduril Industries Christian Brose, and Sara Sharkey from Prolinx.

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