France to open international centre for AI in defence

France's armed forces ministry announced on Thursday that it will set up an international centre to encourage the use of AI in defence; the facility is due to open in summer 2027 4

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The backdrop is Europe's push to strengthen its own military technology and rely less on the United States, at a time when the transatlantic defence partnership looks uncertain 4

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. Much of Europe's AI-enabled military software comes from US firms such as Palantir, and the centre is meant to chip away at that dependency 4

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. The timing is no accident either. AI has become key to how wars are fought since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, speeding up battlefield decisions by processing data from drones, satellites and other sensors 4

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Outside NATO, by design

The centre will be based in Rennes, in northwestern France 2

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. Per Analytics Insight, the centre would encourage armed forces to use AI and develop best practices across defence operations 3

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The ministry's stated ambition is to speed up how quickly French and allied forces master and adopt AI for military operations. "Faced with the technological shift brought about by artificial intelligence, our ambition is to accelerate its mastery and adoption in support of military operations, alongside our allies", said Bertrand Rondepierre, director of the ministry's AI agency 2

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How the centre came to exist carries a wrinkle. Per the ministry, the project was originally developed inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Centres of Excellence framework, the alliance's vehicle for national centres on a shared theme. When the alliance paused creating new centres while it reviewed its policy, France opted not to wait and kept its original timetable, placing the centre outside it 2

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. Per an official at a briefing, the ministry still hopes the alliance will recognise the centre, which would give it standing across it, but that recognition is an aim rather than anything secured 4

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A plan, not yet an institution

Funding, membership and the centre's structure and research areas are all still undecided, so what has been announced is a plan rather than an operating institution 4

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. The ministry told Euronews it could not reveal the list of partner nations, so partners exist in some form but are undisclosed and uncommitted 2

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The ministry has asked officials from other countries to a conference next week, where it will present the plan and gauge interest 4

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. Analytics Insight has called the gathering the first test of interest 3

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