The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014, as retained as part of the law of England and Wales. Upon the publication of this announcement via the Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

11 September 2025

London, UK

Defence Holdings PLC

("Defence Holdings" or the "Company")

Defence Technologies Announces First AI Product Build in Information Operations: Project Ixian

Defence Holdings PLC (LSE: ALRT), the UK's first listed software-led defence company, is pleased to announce the launch of its first sovereign AI product build, Project Ixian. Project Ixian is the first in a growing portfolio of sovereign AI-enabled applications under Defence Technologies and targets information operations, one of the most urgent and contested domains in modern defence.

Information operations encompass the control, distortion, or denial of information as a means to destabilise societies, undermine institutions, and paralyse adversaries. They span disinformation, cyber activity, narrative manipulation, and digital sabotage, and have been identified in the UK Strategic Defence Review 2025 ("SDR25") as a critical threat vector requiring urgent sovereign capability.

Project Ixian marks a commercially significant opportunity with long-term deployment potential in the wider defence, national security, and private sectors.

Development of the product has been carried out in collaboration with one of the world's Magnificent 7 technology leaders. Whitespace engineers have worked directly with the partner's engineering team to integrate AI-native cloud infrastructure into Project Ixian, embedding hyperscale capability from inception.

This collaboration gives Project Ixian sovereign-grade resilience and scalability from day one, positioning Defence Technologies as one of the very few emerging defence companies able to operate at the scale of the primes. By building on infrastructure already relied upon by governments, telecoms, and critical industries worldwide, the product is proven to perform at allied scale.

Importantly, the product has not been developed in isolation. The build has been shaped through workshops with frontline end-users in the UK military, ensuring that its design directly reflects operational requirements. This approach ensures true product-market fit, with capabilities aligned to the challenges that matter most to those on the ground, not just those in planning rooms.

Project Ixian will enter its first phase of value realisation in December, marking a key milestone in its commercial rollout.

An Urgent, Present Threat

Recent operations show this is not a future challenge but a live and escalating one. Campaigns such as Operation Doppelgänger, a Russian effort impersonating European media outlets to spread disinformation, are already destabilising UK and EU audiences. At the same time, Telegram-based networks have been linked to sabotage operations in Britain and Europe, recruiting individuals to conduct arson and attacks on critical infrastructure.

These hybrid tactics, which fuse digital disinformation with physical disruption, highlight the urgent need for sovereign capabilities in information operations. The UK Government has already acknowledged this priority through the National Security Act 2023, the forthcoming Cyber & Electromagnetic Command, the Cyber Resilience Bill, and the RESIST 2 Toolkit. Project Ixian directly aligns with these initiatives, providing Defence Holdings with a clear policy tailwind and a commercially significant opportunity as government spending shifts towards sovereign digital resilience.

Andy McCartney, Chief Technology Officer, Defence Holdings PLC, commented:

"Information is infrastructure, and it is under attack right now. Project Ixian shows how Defence Technologies is moving from strategy to live delivery, embedding sovereign capability in one of the most contested domains of modern defence. Working alongside a Magnificent 7 hyperscale partner, we are ensuring that the UK can detect and disrupt hostile campaigns with sovereign tools that are resilient, scalable, and trusted at allied level. We're proud that Project Ixian will be the first of our products to move into the field, proving our ability to deliver capability where it matters most."

Further details of Project Ixian, alongside Defence Holdings' strategic white paper on Information Operations, will be made available on the Company's website at www.defenceplc.com.