More than 80% of European Defense Systems Reliant on U.S. Cloud Solutions
Over 80% of European defense systems rely on cloud solutions provided by the United States, according to a report by the Foti think tank. France, while less exposed than average, still suffers from hidden dependencies.
The threat of the Trump administration to cut off Internet access via the Starlink satellite in Ukraine last year has prompted Europe to review its dependencies on American technologies in case of a kill switch. The reliance on cloud computing is particularly high.
This is evidenced by a report from the Foti think tank (Future of Technology Institute), based on open sources and therefore subject to gaps in information. The results are alarming, with 78% of European defense ministries or armed forces depending on American solutions like Azure (Microsoft), GCP (Google), or Oracle. Microsoft holds the majority of contracts in 19 countries, compared to four each for Google and Oracle. Information could not be obtained for Bulgaria, Sweden, Cyprus, and Malta.
The Case of French Combat Cloud
France is classified in the “medium risk” category because, like Italy, it has opted for so-called sovereign solutions. However, these solutions still rely partly on American software technologies.
It was already known that the Ministry of Armed Forces heavily relies on the Microsoft Office suite, despite starting a movement to transition away from it. The case of Thales Nexium Defence Cloud, a combat cloud solution, is less known. It was originally developed in partnership with Microsoft, which awarded Thales the “partner of the year” prize in the defense sector in 2021,” notes Tobias B. Bacherle, author of the report and director of the German team at Foti.
Austria is the Only Country with Low Exposure
Also classified as “medium risk” are Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg, Spain, and the Netherlands. The latter recently announced their intention to migrate their security systems to a sovereign cloud, in partnership with local operator KPN and French actor Thales.
The countries at “high risk” are the most numerous in Europe: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. Only one European state would have low exposure: Austria, with a sovereign cloud independent from the United States.
“The lesson is not ‘trust American clouds,’ but rather ‘make sure you have a trusted place to transfer your data when the missiles start falling.’ Microsoft, Amazon, and Cloudflare were the providers who responded to the scale and speed that Ukraine needed,” said Zuzanna Warso, research director of the Open Future think tank. “But that doesn’t mean turning to the hyperscalers. On the contrary, Europe should start developing its own sovereign capacities before needing them one day,” she added.
The dominance of hyperscalers appears even more surprising considering the booming defense budgets in all European countries. However, a large part of them still seems inclined towards the United States, as noted by Katja Bego, a geopolitics researcher at Chatham House. “Can we start thinking more about how to build interoperable technological building blocks? Building common software underneath? There are many possibilities. And I think it’s a moment of great opportunity,” she hopes.
