NATO’s battle for cloud sovereignty: Speed is existential

Summary

NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Cyber and Digital Transformation, Jean-Charles Ellermann-Kingombe, argued at RUSI that cloud sovereignty is now existential for the Alliance. The Ukraine war has shown how rapidly technology — drones, AI, machine learning and evolving cloud architectures — changes battlefield advantage. NATO must build a modern, sovereign digital backbone that enables fast intelligence sharing, decision-making and operational readiness across its members.

Ellermann-Kingombe set out three dimensions of sovereignty: control over data access and location; operational sovereignty (who operates systems); and technological sovereignty (maintaining operations if a provider is sanctioned or withdraws). He warned that full sovereignty can reduce scalability and innovation speed, so NATO will need diverse cloud models — from interoperable, jurisdictionally isolated clouds to air-gapped environments for highly classified workloads — and close industry collaboration to retain innovation momentum.

Key Points

Cloud adoption is a strategic and operational imperative for NATO, not merely a technical matter.
Speed matters: the ability to connect, understand and act on data faster than adversaries is decisive.
Three sovereignty dimensions: data location/access, operational control, and technological resilience if providers are sanctioned or leave.
There are trade-offs: stronger sovereignty can mean less scalability and slower innovation.
NATO will use multiple cloud models — globally connected clouds, jurisdictionally isolated clouds, and air-gapped systems for top-secret workloads.
Partnerships with industry (including US hyperscalers working with trusted European operators) and startups are essential to combine sovereignty with innovation speed.
NATO needs more agile procurement and a tech-savvy bureaucracy to engage quickly with new suppliers and technologies.
National investments (example: UK funding for drone and AI tech) complement Alliance-level efforts to strengthen defence innovation.

Context and relevance

The piece signals a shift: digital sovereignty and cloud architecture are now core to collective defence. For policymakers, defence planners and technology suppliers, NATO’s stance means demand for interoperable, jurisdiction-aware cloud solutions and resilient cryptographic and AI-enabled command tools will grow. It also highlights procurement and governance reform as critical enablers — the technology exists but institutional adaptation must keep pace.

Author’s take

Punchy and urgent: Ellermann-Kingombe makes clear this is a race — not a debate. NATO needs to move fast, pick pragmatic mixes of sovereignty models, and lean on industry partnerships. If you work in defence tech, cloud, or policy, the implications are immediate.

Why should I read this?

Because it explains why cloud isn’t just an IT problem any more — it’s a strategic front line. Quick read, big consequences: if you care about defence tech, procurement or cloud strategy, this tells you where the priorities and pressure points will be in 2026 and beyond.

Source

Source: https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/17/sovereign_cloud_is_existential_nato/