Thales is in advanced discussions with several NATO countries about adopting HexaForce, its artificial intelligence command and control system, according to Patrick Moreau, the company’s vice president for multi-domain operations.

The French defense technology company announced the system’s availability after testing it during NATO’s Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise, known as CWIX, in Poland in June. Thales presented HexaForce as a “multi-domain C2 ‘overlay’” capable of connecting with national and legacy systems.

That approach is designed to cover command functions from the strategic level to the tactical level. It also allows users to select their own artificial intelligence models rather than remain tied to a single vendor.

“I don’t want to go too much into detail. but we are quite advanced in some discussions with some NATO countries so far,” Moreau said in a Sept. 24 interview with Defense News.

NATO is increasingly using artificial intelligence to process growing volumes of command and control data. The alliance already operates a command and control system supplied by United States based Palantir Technologies.

At the same time, the European Union wants to accelerate the development and deployment of European capabilities. That effort comes amid concerns about maintaining sovereign control over the technology supporting those capabilities.

European and NATO militaries are also looking to expand operations from brigade level formations to army corps involving more than 100,000 troops. Moreau said artificial intelligence will be important for processing increasingly complicated data, improving situational awareness and reducing planning cycles.

HexaForce is intended to support command and control from the army corps level down to the battalion, according to Moreau. Thales worked with end users to establish a goal of planning 1,000 target missions per day, representing a tenfold increase.

The system uses an open architecture based around NATO standards. Countries can connect their existing systems for functions such as mission planning, while also using the large language model of their choice.

Beyond its large language model component, HexaForce includes agentic artificial intelligence that can assist with tasks such as preparing targeting missions. Its architecture is fully distributed and designed to use mesh capability rather than depend upon centralized computing.

That design allows HexaForce to operate across different data hubs located within separate command posts. According to Moreau, the structure aligns with new operational concepts that seek to avoid reliance on central computing.

By connecting with legacy solutions, HexaForce can add “AI-powered capability” to systems already used by armed forces, Moreau said. However, HexaForce remains a command and control system, meaning users still require dedicated tactical systems to supply sensor data.

During CWIX, end users tested HexaForce and examined how it worked with existing and legacy systems. Moreau said the system implements NATO standards connected to the Data-Centric Security and Federation Mission Networking frameworks.

When a threat is identified at the strategic command level, HexaForce can propose different courses of action. Those options can include firing responses involving air or land forces, after which the operator selects an option and the system sends the targeting mission to the tactical level.

“Of course it remains up to the operator to choose to push the button, and to choose the best option proposed by HexaForce,” Moreau said. “There is no automated action.”

HexaForce can connect with systems providing tactical awareness and could incorporate commercial vessel tracking information or cyber threats to create a more complete operational picture. The system was developed with input from the French Army, but Moreau repeatedly described it as a NATO solution rather than one designed only for France.

Asked about comparisons with Systematic’s SitaWare and Airbus’s Multi-Domain Combat Cloud, Moreau focused instead on HexaForce’s interoperability. He said the system is ready and already in the hands of armed forces, with its first version moving from design to availability for the French Army in nine months.

France is separately developing its sovereign command and control system, Arcadia. Moreau said HexaForce could become “a cornerstone” of Arcadia, although he emphasized that the decision does not belong to Thales.