Europe builds the drones and the platforms. It does not build the models that fly and command them. The intelligence inside Europe's defences runs on models trained elsewhere, and access to the best models can be cut off overnight. Today, NestAI launches a capability to train sovereign AI models for defence, initially focusing on models for battlefield autonomy and orchestration. With its operating system for modern battlefield operations NestOS, and partnerships with defence forces across Europe’s eastern flank, NestAI connects access to real-world data with synthetic data and simulation capabilities. As a leading European AI lab for defence with 200 scientists and engineers, NestAI brings together its own frontier AI team with leading European actors and resources, including the AI research network ELLIS and one of the continent’s most powerful supercomputers through the LUMI AI Factory.
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New drones, new jamming and new tactics appear on Europe's eastern flank by the week. Systems deployed a year ago are already out of date. No exercise cycle keeps pace, and the most important scenarios are the ones too dangerous to stage.

Today, NestAI launches a capability to train sovereign AI models for defence, initially focusing on models for battlefield autonomy and orchestration. With its unique assets, the work rests on what is already fielded: NestOS, the company's operating system for battlefield operations, is deployed with defence forces and industry across the eastern flank. Real operational data, extended through simulation and synthetic generation, is what the models are trained on.

Training and testing run in simulation, where systems and AI face a simulated adversary in a digital model of the eastern flank's terrain and conditions. Simulation extends real-world data, but models prove themselves against real conditions and real operators rather than benchmarks. Following the collaboration between NestAI and the Finnish Defence Forces in setting up an AI Center of Expertise, the FDF's center will get early access to pilot the first models. The Estonian Defence Forces will get the same access, in line with the trilateral Letter of Intent on defence AI capabilities signed in June. More allied forces will follow.

Most of the data a battlefield model needs has not been publicly recorded. The NestOS Engine produces it, simulating conditions too rare or too dangerous to collect and turning scenarios that have not yet happened into training data at scale. Real data anchors the work. NestOS Edge and Core, the platforms for unmanned systems and command, generate operational data with every deployment and give trained models their route back into the field. 

Initially, the models cover two capabilities: battlefield autonomy for decisions an unmanned system makes for itself, and battlefield orchestration for command across the force. A model that performs in a controlled demonstration can come apart in real operations, and a model current at deployment falls behind an adversary who changes tactics week by week. The effort builds toward a continuously updated model of the battlespace, a model that every platform contributes to and draws from and that improves with every mission.
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"Defence is different. It requires more than just LLMs. And after a decade and tens of billions of dollars into self-driving vehicles, autonomy still only works in mapped, well-regulated areas. A road is a forgiving environment, with lanes and rules. The battlefield is the opposite, contested and unstructured, with an adversary working in real time to defeat whatever you field. Defence requires sovereign frontier AI built specifically for the battlefield, allowing it to adap with evolving threats, adversaries and conditions," says Peter Sarlin, Executive Chairman and Founder of NestAI.
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A commander has to be able to stake a mission on what the system will do. That requirement shapes how the models are being built: to operate within set bounds, grounded in doctrine and rules of engagement, with decisions that can be examined afterwards. How much autonomy to grant remains the commander's decision. This is the mission NestAI was founded for, taken a layer deeper. Europe cannot leave the intelligence at the heart of its defence for others to build. Lessons learned by one force can be put to use by allies across the eastern flank.

"The intelligence at the heart of Europe's defence should be Europe's own, built and improved on terms Europe sets. We are building AI that learns with every mission and adapts as the threat changes, and we are building it where it matters most, on Europe's eastern flank. With a world-class AI team and an operating system for modern battlefields, we have the technology, team and data to take it on," Sarlin adds.

In twelve months, NestAI has grown into a leading European AI lab for defence with 200 scientists and engineers, and has now assembled a dedicated frontier AI team. The team will grow in the coming months, with new and expanded model initiatives, and will train models in partnership with leading organizations, including AMD, ELLIS Institute Finland, the Finnish Defence Forces, and the LUMI AI Factory. Additionally, Qutwo, a European AI lab for the quantum era, brings quantum-inspired compression to help large models run inside the power and compute limits of an edge device. More capabilities and model families will follow, feeding the same battlefield intelligence. And learnings of these will be shared among allied forces. It is intelligence Europe can build together.

About NestAI
NestAI is a European AI lab for defence that delivers the adaptive operating system for modern battlefield operations. Through NestOS, the company enables adaptive intelligence for unmanned and command systems, AI that continuously learns from operational data and adapts to changing conditions. NestOS is an open, modular and interoperable platform that enables multi-vendor integration without vendor lock-in and preserves long-term European control over critical AI capabilities.

Founded in 2025, NestAI has raised €100M from Nokia and Tesi and grown to a team of 200 engineers and scientists, working with the Finnish Defence Forces and other European defence forces as well as leading industry partners including Patria and Bittium.

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