MoD says Project FRONTIER has committed £4.50m in the year to date, says Taskforce RAID has contractually committed £8.1m, and names IBM SixWorks on NEXUS

In written answers dated 19 October 2026, the Ministry of Defence breaks down the £12.6 million it says it has committed from a £200 million AI investment fund and associated initiatives, names IBM SixWorks as industry support on the RAF's NEXUS programme, and says it does not hold a single central inventory of its non-weapon AI systems, their costs and evaluations "in the form requested". Luke Pollard answered all three for the MoD.

Where the £12.6m has gone

On 6 October Mr Pollard told Ben Obese-Jecty, Conservative MP for Huntingdon: "Of the £200 million AI investment fund and associated initiatives announced in the Defence Investment Plan, we have committed £12.6 million to date." (written question 28905)

Mr Obese-Jecty asked for the breakdown. The answer: "As of 21 September 2026, Project FRONTIER has committed £4.50 million in year to date. Taskforce RAID has contractually committed £8.1 million." (written question 30991) The two figures add up to £12.6 million. It gives a year-to-date period for FRONTIER but not for RAID.

What the programmes are

• Taskforce RAID. A GOV.UK release of 10 June describes the Rapid AI Delivery taskforce as "a new unit set up to get robust AI-enabled tools into the hands of Britain’s Armed Forces faster than ever before". It says the taskforce "has exemptions from standard financial and procedural controls". The MoD's TF RAID guidance page, published 25 August, says: "The Taskforce was allocated £100m through the Defence Investment Plan." A 25 September MoD release says RAID is leading the competition that offers up to 12 UK companies initial access to Ukraine's battlefield-data platform. Our explainer on what the government's own documents say about UK defence AI work with the US and Ukraine covers that competition and a UK–US partnership which, on our reading, is still being set up.
• Project FRONTIER. The only GOV.UK description we found is one line in a 19 August MoD news story about its new Chief Digital and Information Officer, which refers to "the £100 million investment to support Project FRONTIER AI - providing an enduring route for decision-support applications across Defence."
• NEXUS. In a 14 September answer the MoD said: "NEXUS is the RAF's combat cloud programme. It provides a secure & resilient, MOD-owned cloud environment, federated data architecture and command-and-control applications." (written question 22788) Asked which company provides its architecture, the 19 October answer says: "NEXUS was developed with industry support from IBM SixWorks." It adds that the architecture and data-layer design "were developed for the Ministry of Defence under MOD direction and sponsorship" and that "The Ministry of Defence retains ownership of the intellectual property associated with the NEXUS architecture and data-layer design." (written question 31787)

On our reading, set against the £100 million each GOV.UK page attaches to FRONTIER and RAID, the committed sums are about 4.5% and 8.1% respectively. The answers themselves do not link the commitments to those allocations.

AI in the office

Dr Ben Spencer, Conservative MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, asked what non-weapon AI systems the MoD uses, what they cost and how each has been evaluated. The answer says: "Defence-approved generative AI tools available on MODNET Official include Microsoft Copilot and Chat-MOD." It continues: "The Department does not hold a single central inventory of all non-weapon AI systems in operational use, their associated costs and evaluations in the form requested." It adds that "Defence requires AI-enabled systems to be appropriately assured, with accountability and human oversight maintained throughout their lifecycle." (written question 30468)

Why it matters

On our reading, these answers put figures to individual programmes within the AI fund and associated initiatives: £12.6 million committed of the £200 million named, with most of it so far through Taskforce RAID. The same day, the department said it does not hold a single central inventory of its non-weapon AI systems, their costs and evaluations "in the form requested".