Vizgard, which is developing an AI-enabled drone observation platform, has reached the final stage of the international Drone Capability Coalition ISR competition following successful UK and Ukrainian defence testing.
The London-based SME founded by former Royal Navy service member (submariner) Alex Kehoe, has spent the last five years building software to meet operational drone challenges and support police drone operations beyond visual line of sight.
Vizgard’s platform, FortifAI, is a real-time visual AI system that plugs into existing defence and security camera infrastructure across land, air and sea environments. Using AI and machine learning, the tech is designed to automate detection, tracking and threat identification across multiple visual streams. The technology comprises AI onboard police drones to assist with obstacle avoidance and manoeuvring around the environment; a low-power computer located next to the camera, so that police data remains secure and does not require internet access; and ground-based steerable cameras that scan the sky to find other aerial objects and investigate reports from third-party radar and radio frequency sensors
UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), part of the Ministry of Defence, has shared details of the company’s growth through UKDI funding. “UKDI funding through the UKDI Security Open Call enabled Vizgard to develop AI that automates the hardest parts of drone operations, from drone piloting to tracking hostile drones,” UKDI said. “Vizgard has grown from a 5-person startup to a 20-strong company since working with UKDI.”
UK Policing is currently exploring the FortifAI application for drone and counter-drone operations. The company is also part of NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) 2026 cohort.
CEO Kehoe said UKDI funding has been crucial to the company’s growth and platform’s development. “Early on, FortifAI 2.0 could only handle one camera stream for one drone. For the Security Open Call project, we needed to process multiple streams simultaneously. It was a significant undertaking, but UKDI funding gave us the runway to do it properly.” The new scalable FortifAI 2.0 can process over 100 streams. The system now gives users automated visual tracking of their own systems as well as continuous sky-scanning for other aerial objects.
In addition to the UKDI support, Vizgard secured GBP 1.5 million in venture capital funding in 2025, enabling it to develop UnifAI, a machine learning operations platform that streamlines AI model improvement in the field. The company is now exporting the technology via a US Defense Innovation Unit contract for field testing with the US Marines.
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Image: FortifAI (Vizgard / UKDI)
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