NATO Adds AI Agents to Crossed Swords Cyber Exercise

NATO’s Crossed Swords 2026 drill, staged by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) in Tallinn, Estonia, has introduced an AI-enabled dimension to its cyber and kinetic operations training. The exercise, which runs through Friday after beginning on Monday, draws more than 250 personnel from over 40 nations, comprising military cyber operators, threat hunters, digital forensics experts and specialists who will coordinate planning of cyber effects with timed kinetic actions.

Exercise Director Jozef Kostelansky highlighted that synchronisation remains the core challenge, with cyber effects now needing to be delivered in sequence with kinetic or special operations actions, a task made more complex by AI involvement on both sides.

A new dedicated AI track allows participants to build, deploy and assess AI agents and to operate alongside them. The training environment is locally hosted, and for the first time Crossed Swords also uses OpenAI’s Daybreak cyber defence offering. Kostelansky stated the move addresses a major shift in the threat landscape by bringing AI into operational workflows while emphasising the continued need for human oversight.

The exercise also links national cyber forces with civilian partners to embed critical infrastructure protection in planning, with more than 20 industry, academia and NGO organisations contributing tooling and know-how, including Bitdefender, ESET, Elastic, Mandiant, OpenAI and the ICRC. Last year’s Crossed Swords edition involved about 240 participants from around 40 nations, with the current drill expanding participation further.