Mer Group lands €46m. in West African intelligence, cyber contracts

Israel's Mer Group has secured a series of contracts valued at approximately €46 million ($53 million) from government entities in a West African country, expanding its footprint in the intelligence, cyber defense, and homeland security sectors as governments grapple with rapidly evolving AI-driven threats.

The contracts were awarded to a wholly owned subsidiary, Athena Security Implementations, which is Mer Group's homeland security contributor that specializes in integrating intelligence solutions with national security frameworks.

The contracts include providing intelligence and cybersecurity capabilities, modernizing existing intelligence systems, and modernizing and protecting strategic national infrastructure. The projects are expected to be executed over approximately 24 months.

According to the company, roughly €34m. of the contract value is expected to be supported by a financing agreement between the customer and a financing bank, which is anticipated to be signed in the coming months.

Athena works primarily with governments and security agencies, although it also supports corporations facing similar security challenges. According to Athena CEO Omer Lavie, the company's model begins with assessing a country's intelligence and security vulnerabilities before designing an integrated package based on Israeli operational experience and proven technologies.

"We don't just deliver technology," Lavie told Defense & Tech by The Jerusalem Post. "We provide doctrine, procedures, protocols and best practices, while improving the capabilities of the people operating those systems through training, mentoring, and professional development."

The new contracts come as governments worldwide confront the growing impact of artificial intelligence on terrorism, intelligence collection, and influence operations.

"The main challenge for intelligence communities today is that AI has fundamentally changed the shape of the threat," Lavie said. "It's an arms race between governments and state-sponsored terrorist organizations, and in many cases terror groups have an advantage because they can adapt faster and are not constrained by regulations."

Among the most significant changes, he said, is the disappearance of traditional barriers to recruitment and influence operations. AI enables terrorist organizations to tailor messaging across multiple languages and demographics while conducting large-scale disinformation campaigns capable of influencing public opinion with increasingly convincing false content.

"AI helps terrorist organizations recruit more efficiently, and intelligence agencies are going to have a very difficult challenge keeping up," he said.

At the same time, Lavie argued that AI should not be viewed as a revolutionary break from existing intelligence practices but rather as the next stage in their evolution.

"The more data and sensors a country possesses, the better AI will perform," he said.

Athena helps intelligence organizations adapt by restructuring workflows into smaller, more agile operational units that can rapidly adopt emerging technologies. The goal is to integrate intelligence disciplines such as visual intelligence (VISINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), human intelligence (HUMINT), and field intelligence into unified platforms accessible across multiple command structures.

According to Lavie, these fusion capabilities significantly improve both defensive and offensive intelligence operations by allowing agencies to analyze massive amounts of information from disparate sources more efficiently.

Saving years of trial and error

The contracts also highlight the growing importance of West Africa and the Sahel region in the global fight against terrorism.

"It's somewhat off the radar, which makes it an attractive testing ground for terrorist organizations experimenting with new capabilities and technologies, including AI,” Lavie said.

He noted that the Sahel area has become one of the world's most active theaters for jihadist terror groups, while many governments in the region continue to struggle with limited resources and operational capabilities.

"Some of these governments have limited budgets and tools," he said. "What we're bringing them are combat-proven intelligence solutions that help them avoid years of trial and error."

Mer Group CEO Avi Shechter described the contracts as part of the company's broader international expansion strategy.

"The new agreements are a direct continuation of the expansion of the group's international technological operations in the fields of intelligence, cyber defense, and the protection of critical facilities," Shechter said. "We continue to deepen our engagement with government clients and leverage the experience and capabilities we have accumulated in complex projects."

Mer Group operates across homeland security and intelligence, military systems, cybersecurity, and telecommunications infrastructure. Founded in 1982, the company also develops data centers and communication networks for government and commercial customers.