The UK and France are uniting to counter digital warfare and protect vital modern technology from increasing cyber threats.

In a world where your smartphone’s map app can guide you to the nearest coffee shop and freight ships navigate vast oceans using satellite signals, the prospect of those systems going dark is terrifying. Yet that’s exactly what’s been happening in Ukraine, where small handheld devices have been wreaking havoc on GPS systems that millions of people depend on every single day.

The announcement came during a visit to Imperial College London, where President Emmanuel Macron and UK Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle witnessed firsthand some of the most cutting-edge AI research happening anywhere in the world.

However, beneath the diplomatic smiles and handshakes lies a sobering reality: our reliance on space-based navigation has created a massive vulnerability that hostile actors are eager to exploit.

“France and the UK both have huge ambitions for technology to boost economic growth and strengthen national security,” Kyle explained. “It is vital we work with natural partners like our French neighbours in these endeavours, particularly as the threats from hostile state actors only grows.”

The partnership isn’t just about defence, though. Kyle painted a picture of what he called an “Entente Technologique,” building on the historic Entente Cordiale between the two nations.

“Today we build on the Entente Cordiale with an Entente Technologique, celebrating and renewing our longstanding and historic partnership so that together we can face down the challenges of tomorrow,” Kyle added.

Life stops when GPS fails

Here’s the thing about GPS that most people don’t think about: it’s not just about finding your way to the pub. Your bank card transactions, the electricity grid keeping your lights on, even the timestamp on your text messages all depend on precise timing signals from satellites orbiting above your head.

When those signals get jammed or disrupted, the consequences ripple through society. Ukraine has become an unwitting testing ground for this new form of warfare, where relatively cheap electronic devices can bring sophisticated infrastructure to its knees.

The response from the UK and France centres on something called enhanced Long Range Navigation, or e-LORAN for short. Think of it as GPS’s earthbound cousin. Instead of relying on vulnerable satellites, e-LORAN uses ground-based radio towers that are much harder to disrupt.

The UK government has been quietly developing this technology alongside the National Physical Laboratory and private companies, creating what’s essentially a backup system for when GPS goes wrong.

Supercomputers and silicon dreams

The partnership extends far beyond navigation, though. Britain and France are also linking up their supercomputing capabilities to accelerate AI breakthroughs across both countries.

The Bristol Centre for Supercomputing, home to the powerful Isambard-AI system, will work closely with France’s GENCI computing centre, which leads their ‘AI Factory’ programme. These aren’t just powerful computers; they’re among the most sophisticated machines humanity has ever built, capable of calculations that would take regular computers centuries to complete.

By pooling resources and expertise, both countries can punch above their weight in the global AI race while sharing the financial burden.

Kyle wasn’t shy about highlighting the economic benefits flowing from this partnership. Tens of millions of pounds are already flowing into British tech companies through UK-French trade relationships, creating jobs and spurring innovation across multiple sectors.

This isn’t really just about national security or scientific prestige; it’s about economics. The countries that master these technologies first will have advantages in everything from financial services to healthcare, manufacturing to entertainment.

The human element of the UK-France partnership

The partnership acknowledges that technological advancement isn’t just about better algorithms or faster processors; it’s about people working together to solve problems that no single country can tackle alone.

The collaboration between the UK’s AI Security Institute and France’s INESIA will involve regular technical workshops where researchers from both sides share knowledge and tackle frontier AI challenges. These sessions represent the kind of quiet yet methodical work that often produces the most notable breakthroughs.

Research institutions from both countries have already signed collaboration agreements, recognising that the biggest scientific challenges require international cooperation. Climate change, pandemic response, technological security … these aren’t problems that stop at any national border.

The partnership will get another moment in the spotlight when UK AI Minister Feryal Clark and French Minister Clara Chappaz visit Diamond Light Source in Oxford. The incredible facility uses light 10 billion times brighter than the sun to study everything from virus structures to potential new medicines.

UK and France race against increasing cyber threats

All of this is happening against a backdrop of intensifying global competition and mounting security threats. Both the UK and France face similar challenges from hostile states seeking to disrupt critical infrastructure and gain technological advantages.

The partnership represents something of a pragmatic middle ground. Rather than going it alone or relying entirely on larger allies, both countries are betting that strategic cooperation with natural partners offers the best path forward.

There’s an urgency here that goes beyond diplomatic niceties. Every day that critical infrastructure remains vulnerable to jamming attacks is another day that potential adversaries can study weaknesses and develop countermeasures. The war in Ukraine has provided a stark preview of what modern conflict looks like, and it’s not pretty.

As digital infrastructure becomes ever more central to national security and economic prosperity, these kinds of collaborations will likely become the norm rather than the exception.

The challenge is making sure that democratic nations can move fast enough to stay ahead of authoritarian competitors who don’t have to worry about things like parliamentary approval or public debate. Speed and agility will be crucial in the coming years.

What’s encouraging is that both the UK and France seem to understand that this isn’t just about building better technology; it’s about building better relationships between the scientists, engineers, and policymakers who will shape our technological future.

See also: UK Government announces next Emergency Alerts system test

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