Since the release of the Defence Data Management Strategy in 2020,¹ significant strides have been made toward the MOD's vision of treating data as a “strategic asset, second only to people.” Yet, as the 2025 target date approaches, work remains to achieve the strategy's four key outcomes:

Curating integrated, machine-ready data
Treating data as a strategic asset
Developing skilled personnel to leverage information advantages
Positioning Defence as data leaders alongside partners and allies

While the objectives, rules, and purposes are clear, siloed systems persist. And as AI increasingly accesses sensitive defence information, questions of accountability and visibility become crucial. Also important is avoiding traditional compliance approaches that can significantly increase storage costs while slowing access to critical information.

CISOs in defence are faced with the question: How do we put a security wrap around AI to understand how it is being used and what data it is accessing?

Elastic meets the strategic outcomes of the MOD data strategy

In the Defence Data Strategy, the rules and outcomes play complementary roles. The Defence Data Rules set the principles and standards required to build a unified data environment, while the strategic outcomes define the goals Defence aims to achieve through their application. Together, the rules provide the foundation, and the outcomes set the direction — driving the operational transformation of Defence’s data landscape.

Elastic helps Defence overcome data silos and complexity, transforming strategic goals into mission success. Here’s how Elastic enables each Defence data outcome in practice:

Data is curated, integrated, and human/machine-ready: Data can be searched and understood in its original format without needing to be converted first. This means different types of information, like intelligence feeds, sensor readings, and operation records, can be analysed and accessed holistically, no matter where they come from.
Data is treated as a strategic asset: RBAC and ABAC enforce data sovereignty by granting authorised personnel granular access to accurate, up-to-date data for real-time decisions. RBAC simplifies privilege management by tying permissions to roles, removing access automatically when roles change — especially when integrated with systems like Active Directory.
Skilled personnel exploiting data for advantage: User-friendly dashboards let analysts identify trends and anomalies without specialised expertise. Generative AI integration summarises complex unstructured data, while prebuilt templates and workflows accelerate training. This addresses skills gaps and maximises the effectiveness of existing personnel, which can significantly increase security teams' efficiency.
Defence as data leaders with partners and allies: An open, flexible ecosystem with multi-vendor support allows Defence to unify data and drive innovation collaboratively with partners and industry, ensuring agile and secure operations.

The result is an operational advantage built on secure, accessible, and comprehensive information. Beyond this, the ROI for such a data foundation is remarkable, a critical advantage for defence teams managing complex compliance requirements and tight budgets.

Join our webinar series, Mission advantage: Strategic conversations with defence leaders to explore how defence organisations are embedding governance, auditability, and assurance into every phase of AI deployment — while building a unified data layer to drive mission success and accelerate Defence Data Strategy outcomes.

Explore additional resources:

Sources:

Computer Weekly, “Government announces data strategy for defence,” 2021.
Ministry of Defence, “Data Strategy for Defence - GOV.UK,” 2021.

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