Google Cloud has secured another multimillion-pound contract to supply a military organisation with secure sovereign cloud capabilities, several months after inking a similar deal with the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The public cloud giant has agreed a deal to supply the Nato Communication and Information Agency (NCIA) with its air-gapped Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) setup, which is designed to host workloads that need to be locked down using strict data residency and security controls.

“[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,” said Nato, in a statement.

While the specific value of the deal has not been disclosed, it is described as being a multimillion-pound contract that will help bolster Nato’s digital infrastructure by “strengthening its data governance” while allowing it to tap into “cutting-edge cloud and artificial intelligence [AI] capabilities”.

The NCIA said the GDC will be used to support the work of its Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC), which will draw on its capabilities to modernise its operations and handle classified workloads.

Tara Brady, president of Google Cloud Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), said the contract is a show of the company’s commitment to helping military organisations protect their mission-critical data.

“Google Cloud is dedicated to supporting Nato’s critical mission to develop a robust and resilient infrastructure and harness the latest technology innovations,” she said. “This partnership will enable Nato to decisively accelerate its digital modernisation efforts while maintaining the highest levels of security and digital sovereignty.”

NCIA chief technology officer Antonio Calderon said the organisation is “committed” to using “next-generation” technologies, such as AI, to revamp how it works and protect its digital environment.

“Partnership with industry is a critical component of our digital transformation strategy,” said Calderon. “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.”

News of Google Cloud’s Nato deal comes hot on the heels of an announcement in September 2025 by the company about a £400m contract to supply GDC capabilities to the UK MoD.

That contract is the first government deal Google Cloud had publicly announced since revealing in July 2025 that it had signed a strategic agreement with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to reduce Whitehall’s reliance on legacy technology providers.

The DSIT contract is a significant development for Google Cloud, which – despite being one of the top three public cloud providers in the world – has not managed to secure the same degree of foothold in the UK public sector as its largest competitors, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Meanwhile, for Nato, Google Cloud is far from the only hyperscale cloud giant it has sought the services of in recent months to support its operations, as the NCIA division announced a deal in September 2025 concerning the migration of mission-critical workloads to the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure as part of its sovereign cloud push.

A month later, Nato also set out plans to work with Oracle to build a secure 5G network for use by its Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence for research purposes.

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