TechTheDay

Google has secured a classified cloud contract from NATO’s tech agency for a joint project with Ukraine. The company will supply its highest-security “air-gapped” cloud, including artificial intelligence features, to the Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC) in Poland. This site focuses on lessons from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The contract is worth several million dollars. Google announced the deal at NATO’s Cloud Conference, where alliance officials called for faster adoption of cloud and AI. No one disclosed the exact value or timeline. Europe’s tech sector stands on the sidelines.

Google’s Cloud for War Data

Google’s Distributed Cloud will manage highly sensitive workloads for JATEC. The facility opened in Bydgoszcz, Poland, earlier this year. JATEC’s mission is direct: analyze battlefield data, extract lessons, and train NATO and Ukrainian personnel. The cloud supports these operations. Google’s offering includes secure AI tools like Gemini and machine translation, but not the full suite available online. The version is “air-gapped.” All software and data remain isolated from the public internet. Google’s win follows a trend: American tech companies dominate NATO’s digital backbone. Details on rollout remain private.

NATO’s Cloud Push Meets Old Problems

NATO leaders, including new Secretary General Mark Rutte, call for faster cloud adoption. The US military already uses cloud computing for classified work. Europe lags far behind. NATO’s last Cloud Conference brought together 500 officials and industry guests. Most talk, little progress. January’s mini-summit with 25 tech firms focused on classified data, but the alliance left policy questions unresolved. The issue is not technical. It’s political, legal, and procedural. European governments disagree on basic definitions. What counts as a “sovereign” cloud? Who controls the infrastructure? Consensus is missing. Procurement slows down. Investments fragment.

European Firms Lose Out Again

American companies keep winning. Google joins Microsoft, Oracle, and Amazon as key suppliers for NATO and the Pentagon. Palantir, another US firm, recently won a contract for NATO military intelligence. European providers rarely make the shortlist. Some blame US technical superiority. Others point to alliance politics and America’s security guarantees. European policymakers complain in private, but NATO picks American solutions for classified work. Firms on the continent can’t compete on compliance or scale. The compliance burden is high. Regulations differ across borders. National interests undermine joint tech programs at every turn.

The ‘Sovereign Cloud’ Stalemate

The term “sovereign cloud” is supposed to mean custom-built, locally controlled, and secure. In theory, it protects data from foreign governments. In practice, NATO members can’t agree on the rules. Each country wants its own definition. Some demand local ownership. Others accept managed services from US giants. The result is confusion. Procurement slows. Integration falters. Alliance-wide projects splinter. Google and its US peers claim they can build sovereign systems to meet local standards. Europe’s own firms are skeptical. The trust gap widens. No one has solved the sovereignty problem.

Google’s classified cloud deal with NATO and Ukraine is another sign of American dominance in military tech. The alliance keeps turning to US firms for critical cloud and AI capability. Europe talks about sovereignty, but can’t deliver unified solutions. Political and legal disagreements stall progress. Procurement remains slow and divided. European companies get locked out of the most sensitive contracts. NATO’s digital future will likely run on American infrastructure, with European governments forced into the role of customer, not partner. No one in Brussels has a fix for this imbalance. The pattern is set.