Ukraine-NATO Team Gets Classified, AI-Enabled Google Cloud Services
Google has been awarded a multi-million dollar contract to provide classified cloud services, including artificial intelligence capabilities, to the Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC)—a unique NATO-Ukraine partnership established to analyze combat data and lessons-learned from Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.
JATEC, which formally opened in February in Bydgoszcz, Poland, represents NATO’s first deployment of advanced cloud computing for classified workloads. The Google Distributed Cloud system features an air-gapped architecture, meaning all software and data are hosted on a government intranet with zero connection to the public internet, ensuring NATO’s highly sensitive information remains under direct control and within alliance sovereign territory.
The announcement came during NATO’s third public Cloud Conference, where Secretary General Mark Rutte emphasized the alliance’s need to accelerate cloud adoption and highlighted Ukraine’s innovative technological approach to modern warfare. The integration process will occur over the coming months, though specific timelines and full contract values remain undisclosed.
Google’s offering includes Gemini AI, machine translation, and other advanced analytics tools tailored for the air-gapped environment. This deployment positions JATEC as a pilot for NATO-wide classified cloud infrastructure, supporting the alliance’s mission to strengthen interoperability between member nations and Ukraine while accelerating intelligence analysis.
However, the contract highlights a persistent challenge for European NATO members: heavy reliance on American technology providers. A June report from RUSI noted that Europe’s complex regulatory landscape and lack of consensus on “sovereign cloud” definitions create significant procurement obstacles and interoperability complications across the alliance.
JATEC will eventually employ up to 74 NATO and Ukrainian personnel and reports to Allied Command-Transformation, NATO’s primary headquarters for modernization located in Norfolk, Virginia. The center’s co-location with NATO’s Joint Force Training Centre positions it as a critical nexus for converting battlefield intelligence into training applications and strategic planning across the alliance.
Source ID: SRCE-2025-1764104674252-961