UK builds experimental AI surveillance system using buried fibre-optic cables
Underground listening network will be used to protect military bases from both protesters and "hostile actors trying to gain intelligence".
The UK Government has announced plans to turn underground fibre-optic cables into an AI-powered local surveillance network capable of protecting military bases from protesters or enemy agents.
An experimental version of this new listening system will be rolled out as part of a new collaboration between Britain and Ukraine focused on developing "battle-winning technology".
It will use Ukrainian data and UK technology to turn buried cables into a "giant AI-enabled sensor".
This week, Prime Minister Andy Burnham signed a deal with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to develop new military capabilities and share data gathered on the battlefield.
The agreement will grant British researchers access to Ukraine’s "coveted" Avengers AI Labs database, which collects data and insights from thousands of cameras and infrared sensors.
That sensor network has now captured data relating to "millions of objects", including tanks, drones and "infantry targets", which is used to train new AI models.
Burnham said: "Ukraine has become one of the world’s leading innovators in defence technology, forged through courage, ingenuity and the hard lessons of war.
"By combining Ukrainian battlefield data with British expertise, we will accelerate the development of capabilities that not only strengthen our national security but better protect our critical infrastructure and growth in every postcode here at home."
Three pilot projects have now been launched with three British startups: Bristol’s Sintela, Oxford’s Mind Foundry and London’s Skyral.
The first of these is "about to be rolled out at a UK defence site to protect bases from protestors and hostile actors trying to gain intelligence", the government wrote.
"As well as military bases, the technology could be rolled out to protect airports, prisons and even railways and energy plants in the future," officials added.
Underground listening systems
The government did not confirm which firm would develop the new surveillance network, nor where it would be installed.
However, Sintela recently won a five-year contract worth up to $35 million from US Customs and Border Protection to support a fibre-optic sensing system that detects and identifies intrusions along the American border by detecting footsteps and people climbing or cutting fences.
The Bristolian firm's technology turns a fibre-optic cable into a continuous vibration sensor stretching for tens of kilometres. Its ONYX system fires light through the fibre and measures tiny changes caused by sound, vibration and strain along the cable, monitoring roughly 50km of fibre.
The system then uses AI to process signals, locate the event, and assess what caused it.
The amount of information involved in the buried networks is substantial. Sintela says the system can process more than a petabyte of acquired data per day.
Battlefield data comes to Britain
The fibre-optic sensing project forms part of the UK and Ukraine's 100 Year Partnership, signed in 2025 to deepen cooperation between the two countries across defence, security, technology and other areas.
It was announced alongside another significant transfer of military technology. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the UK had authorised defence company MBDA to release classified technical information about British components used in the long-range SCALP missile, known as Storm Shadow in UK service.
The information is intended to help establish missile assembly lines in Ukraine - prompting the Kremlin to warn that the move added "fuel to the fire".
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Kanishka Narayan, Minister for AI, said: "Britain and Ukraine are the closest of partners. Ukraine’s extraordinary courage on the battlefield has been matched by remarkable technological ingenuity.
“By giving British start-ups, researchers and engineers access to insights from its Avengers AI platform, we are taking that partnership further and helping Britain develop the next generation of defence technology.
"This is AI sovereignty in practice: building our own capabilities and turning frontline experience into systems that protect our armed forces overseas and our critical infrastructure at home."
