Google Cloud wins new NATO contract for sovereign cloud services

Google Cloud has picked up another major contract to deliver secure, sovereign cloud services to a military agency, only a few months after it signed a similar deal with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The agreement will see the Nato Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) use Google Distributed Cloud (GDC), an air-gapped system built for workloads that need tight controls over where data stays and how it is secured.

“[The GDC] empowers organisations to run modern AI and analytics workloads on their most important data, unlocking valuable insights while maintaining absolute operational control and meeting the strictest digital sovereignty requirements,” NATO said in a statement.

The price of the deal was not released, but NATO described it as a multimillion-pound contract. The setup is expected to strengthen NATO’s digital systems by improving data governance and giving the organisation access to advanced cloud and AI tools.

The NCIA plans to use GDC at its Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC), which will rely on the platform to update its operations and process classified information.

Tara Brady, president of Google Cloud in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), said the agreement reflects the company’s focus on helping defence agencies safeguard important data.

NCIA chief technology officer Antonio Calderon said the agency aims to bring in “next-generation” tools, including AI, to improve how it works and protect its systems.

“Partnership with industry is a critical component of our digital transformation strategy,” he said. “Through this collaboration, we will deliver a secure, resilient and scalable cloud environment for JATEC that meets the highest standards required to protect highly sensitive data.”

The deal follows Google Cloud’s £400m agreement, announced in September 2025, to supply GDC services to the UK MoD. That project was the company’s first public government contract after it shared in July 2025 that it had reached a strategic agreement with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to help reduce the government’s dependence on older tech suppliers.

The DSIT deal marked a key step for Google Cloud, which ranks among the top three global cloud providers but has not gained the same presence in the UK public sector as Microsoft or Amazon Web Services.

NATO, meanwhile, has also turned to other major cloud firms. In September 2025, the NCIA revealed a separate agreement to move mission-critical workloads to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure as part of its sovereign cloud work. A month later, NATO outlined plans to partner with Oracle again to create a secure 5G network for research at its Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE).

The CCDCOE, based in Tallinn, supports NATO and its members with research, training, and cyber defence exercises. Its work now includes testing private 5G networks that can handle sensitive data and support operational planning. “Secure, resilient 5G adds a vital layer to existing communications, while portable, private networks with seamless roaming enable faster, more effective data sharing, keeping NATO forces a step ahead of adversaries,” said Tõnis Saar, director of the CCDCOE.

The Centre previously ran a pilot to assess Oracle’s 5G Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), which is designed to secure 5G roaming traffic between member nations. The trial used Druid Software’s 5G core network and Oracle’s edge devices, and the CCDCOE verified SEPP as a trusted option for protecting roaming messages across allied networks. That work supports NATO’s broader aim to safeguard research and battlefield data while enabling secure connectivity between forces.

Such partnerships show NATO’s sovereign cloud push spans more than one provider, with cloud infrastructure and secure 5G research moving in parallel.

(Photo by Marek Studzinski)

See also: Google’s €5.5B Germany investment reshapes enterprise cloud and AI

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