The UK's Royal Navy has adopted Oracle Cloud Infrastructure's (OCI) Roving Edge offering for AI capabilities on board the HMS Prince of Wales ship.

OCI Roving Edge, launched in 2021, brings core infrastructure to the Edge with Roving Edge Devices - ruggedized, portable, and scalable server nodes.

With the installation on the HMS Prince of Wales, the navy will be able to run its sovereign AI platform for the UK's national security, whether the ship is in national waters or abroad.

The warship will be able to process data with lower latency, and the Navy will run Whitespace's Saga AI offering on the system.

“Leveraging modern AI solutions across the entire operations of the Royal Navy is critical to the UK’s defensive capabilities,” said First Sea Lord, Sir Gwyn Jenkins. “To ensure the HMS Prince of Wales can succeed in its mission, the Royal Navy has deployed a solution that leverages the benefits of sovereign AI securely, without compromising operational control or efficiencies, no matter where it is in the world.”

Jason Rees, senior vice president, technology engineering EMEA, Oracle, added: “The Royal Navy, and more widely the Ministry of Defence, needs to store and run their sovereign data in environments that are highly secure while maintaining operational control.

“The mission is at the Edge. By using OCI Roving Edge Infrastructure, the Royal Navy can seamlessly and securely develop, deploy, and maintain sovereign AI capabilities for the Fleet Flagship anytime, anywhere.”

HMS Prince of Wales is an aircraft carrier and part of the Queen Elizabeth Class. The ship's flight deck is 70 meters (229.6 feet) wide and 280m (918.6ft) long, and has a minimum crew of 700 people. The ship began sea trials in 2019 and was officially commissioned into the Navy in December of that year. The ship has an estimated lifespan of 50 years,

Oracle recently signed a cloud contract with the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD). Revealed earlier this month, the contract aims to help the MoD migrate legacy technology systems to OCI at a more rapid clip, helping the MoD to modernize and adopt new AI capabilities.