DSEI 2025: Thales working with UK MoD to reconfigure ACE system

Thales UK is working with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to further reconfigure its Agile C4I at Edge (ACE) system, Stuart Davis, product line manager for C4I at Thales, told Janes on 9 September at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2025 exhibition held in London.

One of the main concepts of ACE is that it is constantly evolving and being updated due to the changing threat environment. “From the onset, it is designed to be modified,” Davis said.

ACE is also “at the tactical edge of the digital targeting web”, according to Davis, and has the capability to connect “any sensor and any effector”. The backbone of the digital targeting web is the “data distribution aspect of the system”, Davis said, and added that other systems from the Thales portfolio would be more applicable for that.

The digital targeting web, also called Project Asgard, was unveiled by the British Army in July 2025. The artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted communications network provides rapid targeting and decision-making support in order to meet the demand for recce/strike complex through a sense-identify-weapon-decide-effect sequence. Thales is also “hoping to be downselected” in an ongoing competitive process run by the UK MoD for Asgard, a representative of the Thales UK communications team confirmed to Janes on 9 September.

ACE is a software that collects and fuses data from across the battlespace and provides a common operating picture, which accelerates the decision-making process. “So, it's allowing one person to visualise what's in the environment, understand the environment, and then task different assets to engage that environment or to go recce that environment,” Davis said.

For more information, please see UK MoD crafts open framework tender for Project Asgard digital tools .