How Commercial Innovation Is Reshaping Modern Defence
For decades, advanced defence and intelligence capabilities belonged almost exclusively to states. Programmes such as the United States’ KH-11 reconnaissance satellite constellation symbolised an era in which sophisticated intelligence collection required enormous budgets, highly specialised agencies and decades of institutional development. Only a handful of countries could realistically afford to build and maintain such capabilities.
That model is changing.
The rapid development of artificial intelligence, commercial space technologies, autonomous systems and advanced data analytics has created an entirely new defence ecosystem. Today, governments no longer have to own every capability themselves. Instead, they can acquire many of them from the commercial market and integrate them into existing national security structures.
The war in Ukraine has become perhaps the clearest demonstration of this shift. Commercial companies now provide capabilities that only governments possessed a generation ago. Maxar Technologies has supplied high-resolution commercial satellite imagery used to monitor Russian troop movements and assess damage to critical infrastructure. Planet Labs provides high-frequency commercial satellite imagery that enables governments and analysts to monitor developments on the battlefield almost in real time. Palantir Technologies has supported Ukrainian authorities with AI-enabled data integration and battlefield analysis, helping commanders process vast amounts of operational information. At the tactical level, commercially available drones, particularly widely accessible platforms such as DJI, have demonstrated how civilian technologies can be rapidly adapted for reconnaissance, battlefield awareness and operational support.
The same evolution can be seen far beyond Europe. Across the Sahel and West Africa, governments continue to face persistent security challenges ranging from terrorism and organised crime to illegal trafficking and border insecurity. Many countries operate with limited defence budgets while having to secure vast and difficult-to-monitor territories. Under these conditions, access to advanced intelligence and surveillance capabilities has become increasingly important—but building sovereign systems from the ground up is often financially unrealistic.
Governments are therefore increasingly turning to commercially available capabilities that only a decade ago would have been regarded as exclusively sovereign assets. Commercial GEOINT (Geospatial Intelligence) enables access to high-resolution satellite imagery for border monitoring, operational planning and the protection of critical infrastructure without requiring governments to develop and operate their own satellite constellations. OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) platforms analyse enormous volumes of publicly available information to identify disinformation campaigns, foreign influence operations and emerging security threats, while commercial ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) systems—including autonomous drones and counter-UAV technologies—support surveillance, force protection and critical infrastructure security.
Perhaps the most disruptive development is ADINT (Advertisement Intelligence). Originally developed for the digital advertising industry, ADINT analyses commercial mobile advertising identifiers routinely shared by smartphone applications. By combining these datasets with OSINT, SIGINT and cyber intelligence, analysts can establish patterns of life, support the geolocation of devices and develop behavioural profiles of persons of operational interest. It demonstrates how commercially generated data—never intended for national security purposes—has become operationally valuable for governments. At the same time, ADINT has become one of the most debated emerging intelligence disciplines, raising legitimate questions about privacy, data governance and the appropriate use of commercially acquired personal data. The challenge for governments is therefore not simply whether these capabilities are available, but how to employ them within transparent legal frameworks and democratic oversight.
The appeal for governments is obvious. Commercial capabilities provide immediate access to technologies that have already been developed, tested and operationally deployed, avoiding years of research and the significant costs associated with building sovereign systems. For many smaller and medium-sized countries, these solutions provide access to capabilities that would otherwise remain financially or technologically out of reach. This shift has been enabled by the rapid growth of the commercial space economy and the broader defence technology sector, where private investment increasingly outpaces government research and development in many dual-use technologies. The strategic question for governments is therefore no longer whether commercial technologies belong in national security, but which capabilities must remain sovereign and which can be securely sourced from the market.
None of this comes without challenges. As governments become increasingly reliant on commercial intelligence platforms, legitimate questions arise over accountability, data sovereignty and strategic dependence. Who bears responsibility if commercially provided intelligence contributes to an operational mistake? How should governments assess the risks of relying on technologies developed—or even partly owned—by foreign companies? These concerns should not be dismissed. Yet they argue not against commercialisation itself, but for stronger governance, transparent procurement and robust oversight. The objective should not be to replace sovereign capability, but to ensure that commercial innovation strengthens it.
As defence technologies become increasingly specialised, governments face another challenge: identifying which capabilities they actually need and which solutions best address their operational requirements. This is creating demand for specialised advisory firms capable of bridging the gap between government requirements and the rapidly evolving commercial defence market. One example is Czech-based JLC Group, which advises governments on defence capability development, identifies the most appropriate commercial solutions and facilitates their acquisition through trusted international technology providers.
As Jan Kalvoda, Sales Manager of JLC Group, explains:
“Modern warfare demands a modern approach. Governments no longer need to develop every capability themselves. Our role is to understand the operational problem first, identify the capability that best addresses it, and connect our clients with the most credible technology providers available. Every country faces different security challenges, and every solution must reflect its operational environment, resources and long-term objectives.”
Commercialisation is no longer changing only the defence market—it is changing the very meaning of sovereign capability. The governments that succeed will not be those that attempt to own every technology, but those that understand which capabilities they must retain, which they can securely obtain from the market, and how to govern both with equal discipline. Innovation may increasingly come from the private sector, but responsibility for national security will always remain a matter of the state.
