NITECH14

FOREWORDS

A fond farewell and good luck to all Ludwig Decamps, General Manager, NCIA 07

Strengthening the Alliance across all domains

Radmila Shekerinska, Deputy Secretary General, NATO 11

Editors’ pick

Lara Vincent-Young and Simon Michell, Editors, NITECH 17

SETTING THE COURSE FORGING THE DIGITAL BACKBONE

Industry: NATO’s unspoken sixth domain?

Ludwig Decamps, General Manager, NCIA 22

Farewell letter to NITECH readers: a legacy of connection and a future of innovation NITECH Editorial Team 28

A new blueprint for NATO Edge 2026

Marianne Roth, Chief of Acquisition, NCIA 34

Enabling MDO through digital resilience

Major General Krzysztof Kociuba, Chief of Staff, NCIA 40

Smarter, stronger: why gender awareness is NATO’s digital advantage

Major General Dominique Luzeaux, Digital Champion, NATO and Captain Lennie Roux le Jallé, Gender Advisor, NATO ACT 46

The federated combat cloud

Dennis Lefevere, Cloud Center of Excellence, NCIA 52

Weaving the digital battlefield

Luz Fernandez, Chief of Digital Innovation and Technology, NCIA 58

Empowering the tactical edge with the cloud

Simon Michell, Co-Editor, NITECH, and Amazon Web Services 64

The multi-orbit advantage

Pinar Yasar Orten, SATCOM Technologies, NCIA 70

AI-ready military networks

Matt Swinden, Managing Director, Strategy and Product at BT International 76

115 82

MDO IN ACTION

Resilient supply chain for multi-domain operations

Stacy Cummings, General Manager, NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) 82

Delivering machine speed capability with Task Force Maven

Colonel Arnel David, Task Force Maven Director, SHAPE 88

The proving ground for Alliance networks

Andres Bulk and Nicholas Lambert, Engineers, NCIA 94

A new perspective from the field: joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance

Allegra Murra, Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JISR), NCIA

100

Forging the Arctic Shield: a new centre of gravity for air power in the north

Major General Tron Strand, Commander, Combined Air Operations Centre Bodø, Norway 104

View from the Nations: Latvia’s total defence

Andris Sprūds, Minister of Defence, Latvia 107

Beyond the firewall: cyber effects in multi-domain operations

Luc Dandurand, Chief, NATO Cyber Security Centre 112

SHAPING FUTURE CAPABILITIES

Digital twins: the road to a battlespace digital twin

Dr Jan Hodicky, Modelling and Simulation SME, Allied Command Transformation 115

Innovation takes flight: the SAPIENCE drone challenge

Dr Bryan Mesmer, University of Alabama, Huntsville 118

AI-based ‘lessons learned’: Techniques for improving complex systems

Dr Cem Sen, Associate Professor, J7 Evaluation and Lessons Learned Branch, NCISG 121

Building the workforce for NATO’s digital future

Thomas Breach, Recruitment Lead, NCIA 124

A FOND FAREWELL AND GOOD LUCK TO ALL

Ludwig Decamps, General Manager, NCIA

As my tenure as General Manager of NCIA draws to a close this December, it is with a profound sense of gratitude and reflection that I introduce this final edition of NITECH magazine under my stewardship.

Leading this agency has been the greatest privilege of my professional life. In this role, I have been a daily witness to the exceptional dedication of our staff and the remarkable strength of our strategic partnerships across industry and academia. It is this collective commitment that enables our Alliance to thrive in an era of unprecedented technological change. I want to begin by extending my deepest thanks to every member of the NCIA team and to all our partners for their expertise, resilience and unwavering support.

The period of my leadership has coincided with one of the most significant tectonic shifts in our shared security environment. We have navigated the comprehensive transition from a primary focus on out-of-area operations, exemplified by our long-standing mission in Afghanistan, to a necessary and urgent reprioritization of collective defence and deterrence. This is not merely a change in focus; it is a fundamental change in our required mindset, speed and scale.

To meet this new reality, NCIA had to champion and drive an ambitious digital transformation agenda. Our objective has been clear: to ensure NATO maintains its technological edge. A cornerstone of this effort has been the strategic and complex work of bringing the NATO Command Structure into the public cloud. This initiative, alongside countless others, represents far more than a simple technological upgrade. It is a foundational enabler for the agility, data-driven decision-making and advanced resilience that modern defence demands.

“The challenges we face are undoubtedly immense, but they are surpassed by the exceptional talent, ingenuity and shared purpose within NCIA”

We recognized early on, however, that technology alone is insufficient. How we acquire and deliver capability is just as critical as what we deliver. A key part of our evolution has been to energize our ways of working. We have actively pursued more flexible and agile contracting mechanisms and adapted our operating model. We had to move faster, become more responsive to operational needs and lower the barrier to entry for innovative partners, including small and medium-sized enterprises.

This internal transformation has enabled NCIA to truly reposture itself as a vital conduit, helping the Alliance to adopt and onboard cutting-edge solutions from industry at pace. The results of this shift are tangible and speak for themselves. In 2021, NCIA awarded €500 million in contracts. In 2025, that number reached €1 billion.

This is not just a financial metric; it represents a new paradigm where industry is not simply a supplier but an integral partner in a shared ecosystem of competition.

As this is a subject I am particularly passionate about, I explore this theme further in a dedicated article within this edition, focusing on industry as a critical space of competition with potential adversaries.

As I prepare to hand over leadership, I am confident that I leave NCIA stronger and better equipped to support

NATO’s ambitious agenda. However, in the face of rapidly evolving strategic challenges and the relentless pace of technological advancements, NCIA’s transformation will inevitably remain an ongoing journey. This organization is, and always will be, defined by its people. The challenges we face are undoubtedly immense, but they are surpassed by the exceptional talent, ingenuity and shared purpose within NCIA, as well as the unwavering commitment of NATO’s leadership, the Agency Supervisory Board, our operational partners and our extensive industry network.

I have every confidence that NCIA will continue to evolve, to innovate and to deliver the secure and resilient communications and information infrastructure our Alliance needs. Thank you all for your leadership, your partnership, your commitment and your trust.

It has been an honour to serve this mission alongside you. I wish my successor, Dr Dylan Browne, the very best as he leads NCIA into its next chapter. I look forward to following NCIA’s future successes and have no doubt our paths will cross again in this vital and enduring community.

I invite you to read on.

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STRENGTHENING THE ALLIANCE ACROSS ALL DOMAINS

Radmila Shekerinska, Deputy Secretary

General,

NATO

It is always an honour to meet the men and women across the Alliance who are committed to keeping us safe, from the armed forces serving under the NATO flag, to the innovators at the cutting edge of new technologies. It reinforces my view that security is a shared endeavour. Military or civilian, government or private sector, we are all in this together. Unity is NATO’s greatest strength and unity was at the heart of our Summit in The Hague in June. We collectively agreed to invest 5% of GDP in defence, to accelerate defence production and innovation and to continue our strong support for Ukraine.

As part of the historic 5% commitment in The Hague Defence Investment Plan, Allies agreed to spend 3.5% of GDP on core defence, so that our militaries have the forces, resources and capabilities they need to protect all of us. A further 1.5% of GDP will go towards defence and security-related investments; this includes measures to protect our critical infrastructure, defend our networks and strengthen our resilience. With so many demands on government budgets, investing more on defence will continue to be challenging, but it is an absolute necessity. The price of preserving peace is always far less than the cost of war.

Allies also agreed in The Hague to massively increase defence production across the Alliance, to promote innovation and harness emerging technologies. We must produce not only basic munitions but also high-end weapon systems, at speed and scale. We need quantity and quality, so we are working closer than ever with industry to ensure this happens. We can see that the tide has already started to turn on defence production, with more firepower and innovation coming out of our industries.

At the Summit, we reaffirmed NATO’s enduring support for Ukraine, so that it can defend itself against Russia today, be in a strong position for peace negotiations and deter any future Russian aggression. Through NATO’s latest initiative, the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), Allies are buying essential military equipment from the United States that only it can provide. Billions of dollars worth of American military hardware is now being channelled into Ukraine, and more than half of NATO Allies have signed up, securing this crucial flow of equipment. PURL builds on our unwavering support, including through NATO’s Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) command in Germany. Ukraine’s incredible capacity for innovation on the battlefield, such as with drones, is also teaching us vital lessons about how warfare is evolving. The NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis Training and Education Centre (JATEC) in Poland, featured in the last edition of this magazine, is where we turn the hard-won lessons from the battlefield into ways to make Ukraine and NATO stronger.

AT THE HEART OF NATO

This brings me to the core theme of this magazine, multi-domain operations (MDO). It is how we orchestrate military activities across all operational domains – air, land, sea, cyber and space – so that we can fight and win as one. For example, satellites provide intelligence, to

help drones identify targets, so that artillery can strike the enemy. MDO is a fundamental requirement for succeeding in modern conflict, and it requires a powerful digital backbone to connect our forces and accelerate our decision making. I have a background in engineering, so I really appreciate NCIA’s critical work to develop the technologies to put MDO at the heart of what NATO does. But NCIA cannot do this alone. The speed of technological change demands deeper partnerships with our most innovative industries, so we can put cutting-edge capabilities into the hands of our servicepeople faster.

Our technological edge will only be as sharp and strong as the people who wield it. From data scientists to artificial intelligence experts, we need to foster the skills needed for this digital era. Forging a multi-domain future means nurturing the next generation of innovators and finding the right talent from across our societies; that includes inspiring young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). It is essential that NATO has the right mindset to meet the challenges and opportunities of new technologies. So let us become smarter, stronger and more agile as an Alliance. We cannot lose sight of what is at stake – the security of one billion people on both sides of the Atlantic.

Radmila Shekerinska with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. NATO has reaffirmed its strong support for Ukraine (PHOTO: NATO)

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EDITORS’ PICK — LARA VINCENT-YOUNG

A selection of recommended articles by the NITECH Editors

“ BEYOND THE BUZZWORDS: REAL TALK ON GENDER BLINDNESS IN TECH”

Inclusivity as a Force Multiplier – Maj Gen Dominique Luzeaux & Lennie Roux-Leblanc

Gender blindness in technology and the military is a topic that is often skirted around, but not in this refreshing piece. I recently attended the 25th anniversary Women, Peace and Security event in The Hague, where these difficult conversations took centre stage. This article captures that engaging, no-nonsense dialogue perfectly, offering a direct acknowledgement of the work still required to ensure we gain the full benefit of every member of our Alliance.

“

DYNAMIC BY NAME AND NATURE: HUNTING DRONES ABOARD THE CANTABRIA”

A New Perspective from the Field –Allegra Murra, Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance

Attending this exercise in Portugal was a privilege, but the true once-in-a-lifetime experience was going aboard the Spanish ship Cantabria. There, I watched the Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JISR) team install the very sensors and radars used to detect drones during the live-fire drills described here. This interview gives you a brilliant insider’s perspective from Allegra Murra on the vital work JISR does and the intense reality of testing these crucial defences at sea.

EDITORS’ PICK — SIMON MICHELL

“ THE BEST EXPLANATION OF DIGITAL TWINS I’VE SEEN SO FAR”

Digital twins – the road to a battlespace digital twin – Dr Jan Hodicky ACT SME I have frequently written the term ‘digital twin’ without stopping to think about what it actually means in terms of technical definition and operational capability. Now I have the answers. Revealing its origins in the Apollo 13 mission, Allied Command Transformation Expert Jan Hodicky offers up the definitive explanation of digital twin and its sister nomenclatures digital model and digital shadow. Not only is this a fascinating read, it also highlights the power of the concept and the progress that is still required before a true digital twin is born.

MAVEN SMART SYSTEM –A STRATEGIC BREAKTHROUGH”

Delivering Machine Speed Capability with Task Force Maven – Colonel Arnel David, Task Force Maven Director at SHAPE In a matter of just a few years, AI has transcended from a tech buzzword not really understood by the majority of people to the most significant factor likely to determine future global stability. Mastering the military use of AI is a race we cannot afford to lose. Thankfully, SHAPE’s Colonel Arnel David explains how NATO has begun to use AI to achieve a sustained, machine-speed tempo that will bring about an unassailable guarantee that the price of aggression is certain defeat.

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The benefits of scale: building resilience into global connectivity

The unseen web of modern defence

Connectivity as strategic infrastructure

Every mission, intelligence exchange and command decision is becoming increasingly reliant on fast, secure and stable connectivity. That means having the right kind of network infrastructure is a strategic imperative.

alternative routes for data flows that can adapt automatically.

Most people would say they are concerned with security, but they rarely think about the way their data travels when they send an email, join a video call or access data from the cloud. Yet beneath the surface – quite literally –lies a vast network of fibre-optic cables that carry almost all of the world’s digital traffic. These undersea cables are the unseen web of our information world, connecting continents with strands of glass thinner than a human hair.

They are also, increasingly, a strategic vulnerability. Ships dragging anchors, fishing activity and even deliberate acts of sabotage can sever these digital links, cutting off entire regions from communication.

With the increasing digitalization of NATO and its allies, protecting these unseen networks is fundamental to their collective defence, intelligence and operational coordination. And as the digital dimension of defence and conflict expands, networks must become more resilient.

As NATO modernizes its digital backbone, the demands of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and data analytics grow exponentially. These technologies promise new levels of situational awareness and operational agility, but also create new dependencies. The ability to sustain mission-critical communications, even under duress, defines military effectiveness, as well as political credibility.

Scale as the foundation of resilience

Resilience at the network level depends on scale, but ‘scale’ means more than size. True scale is the ability to operate seamlessly across geographies, infrastructures and cloud ecosystems. It’s about diversity, density and flexibility: having multiple pathways, platforms and partners so that no single point of failure can interrupt operations.

And scale not only increases network responsiveness but also offers greater choice and access to the right cloud or security service when it’s needed. It ensures low latency and high capacity for better performance, optimizes costs through wider distribution, and, crucially, provides resilience by enabling automatic adaptation when failures occur, seeking

As AI and real-time analytics become central to NATO’s operations, scale also ensures necessary capacity. These systems require enormous spikes in bandwidth and computing power. Networks that can dynamically allocate capacity, route around failures and self-optimize will define the future of digital defence

Lessons from subsea diversity

The undersea network provides a powerful lesson in how scale creates resilience. No single route can guarantee continuity. The key lies in the aforementioned diversity: a network that offers multiple pathways, physical separation and proactive monitoring.

BT’s global subsea network covers several intercontinental routes, including multiple links between the UK and US, between Asia and Europe, and between South Africa and Europe. A meshed core ensures automatic rerouting if disruptions occur.

Cable routes are engineered, with local seabed mapping, burial and armouring. Because around 70% of cable faults are caused by fishing and shipping, network operators use the Automatic Identification System (AIS) – tracking technology that monitors vessel movements near cable routes – to identify potential hazards in advance. Although such monitoring cannot prevent all incidents, particularly in congested or politically sensitive waterways

Senior Manager International Underlay Connectivity, BT International

Adrian Comley

such as the Red Sea, it enables faster response, coordination and repair when disruptions occur.

This diversity also extends beyond the oceans. Terrestrial networks are engineered to complement subsea ones, and vice versa, ensuring that if one pathway is disrupted, traffic can be redirected seamlessly with minimal impact on performance. For example, in the event of a Red Sea cable disruption, Asia-Pacific traffic can be rerouted to Europe using terrestrial corridors, maintaining continuity and near-equivalent latency. Moving higher, satellite connectivity complements terrestrial and subsea routes, providing an additional layer of resilience when ground or undersea links are compromised. Low Earth orbit (LEO), geostationary (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites ensure continuity for mission-critical communications, remote operations and hard-to-reach locations. By integrating multiple transport technologies, BT’s global network maintains connectivity even in extreme or contested conditions.

Resilience is not simply about avoiding disruption; it is about adapting to it instantly, continuing to function despite the unexpected.

Scale multiplies agility and security

In the case of NATO, scale directly translates into agility and security. The Alliance’s operational model increasingly depends on multi-domain and multi-cloud environments, integrating air, land, sea, cyber and space assets across diverse partners and providers.

Within each major metropolitan area, BT deploys dual Points of Presence (PoPs) connected by resilient fibre routes. If a link or partner connection fails traffic can instantly reroute through another within the same metro area, maintaining near-zero disruption. Without this fully resilient

metro architecture, traffic might otherwise detour through distant cloud regions and return across external backbones, introducing unnecessary latency.

Scale also enhances performance through security: proximity to multiple Secure Service Edge (SSE) vendors and cloud firewalls minimizes latency and exposure, ensuring that overlaid security functions – such as encryption, inspection or threat detection, operate at full performance without bottlenecks.

Economies of scale

One of the key advantages of scale is that it makes resilience both affordable and sustainable. Diversity options – whether access, port or network-level – are standard features, not expensive add-ons.

In BT’s case, the organization directly manages its Points of Presence, maintaining end-to-end control over performance, latency and fault management. Its Service Level Agreements are engineered from the ground up, based on real network performance rather than commercial averages.

Engineering resilience by design

As with any aspect of digital transformation, resilience is also continuously evolving beyond simple redundancy. The next generation of connectivity must be adaptive, intelligent and programmable.

For NATO and its partners, this will lead to a new necessity: infrastructure that scales on demand, embeds security at its core and ensures predictable performance wherever missions operate.

The future of resilient connectivity relies on elastic capacity, expanding to support data-intensive workloads such as AI, cloud analytics and sensor fusion. It must provide real-time

configurability, integration of diverse transport technologies, including terrestrial, subsea and satellite. And it must be built on softwaredefined architecture. This will enable interoperability across Allied networks and providers, transforming connectivity from a static utility into a dynamic capability.

Resilience is not retrofitted; it is built in by design.

Building strength through scalable connectivity

Digital dependency is only a drawback if an organization is not ready to prepare and respond to it.

For NATO and its partners, the ability to maintain operational continuity across global, cloud-connected environments will define readiness and sovereignty in the coming decades. Scale ensures that networks can adapt to disruption, absorb shocks and continue to function.

Looking forward, the next wave of innovation, most likely driven by AI and quantum technologies, will demand even greater capacity, responsiveness and resilience. In such an environment ‘scalable’ connectivity will be the foundation upon which secure alliances are built.

INDUSTRY NATO’S UNSPOKEN SIXTH

DOMAIN?

NCIA General Manager Ludwig Decamps explains how NCIA has lived the frontline reality of industry’s role in modern conflict, from secure networks in Afghanistan to NATO’s Digital Transformation. As NATO’s technology hub, NCIA is helping the Alliance harness this ‘sixth domain’ with readiness and resilience at its core

When NATO declared cyber and space as domains of operation, it recognized that the character of warfare had fundamentally changed. As I step down from my tenure at the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA), I find myself asking whether we are overlooking another arena – one hiding in plain sight. Is it time to start thinking of industry as NATO’s sixth domain?

To be clear, this is not a proposal for new NATO doctrine. Rather, it is an invitation to evaluate the significant changes in the relationship between industry and warfare in the digital era. We must consider whether our engagement with industry partners needs to adapt, given that their roles now parallel those of traditional domains in both scope and influence. Therefore, I ask you to consider ‘domain’ here as a strategic perspective rather than a classification.

Industry has always mattered, but the dynamic has shifted Sceptics will rightly argue that industry has always been central to war. The factories of Detroit and Birmingham were as decisive in the Second World War as any battlefield. However, today industry is doing more than supplying the fight; it is shaping it in real-time.

In Ukraine, we see frontline innovation cycles measured in weeks, not years. Soldiers and start-ups are co-developing fibre-optic drones, improvised countermeasures and battlefield software on the fly. The frontline has become a testbed, and industry is no longer safely behind the lines, but effectively on them.

Of course, industry has long been a target in conflict. Allied bombers over the Ruhr Valley proved that decades ago. What differs today is the immediacy and intimacy of the targeting. In the industrial age, destroying a factory took months to affect the battlefield. Today, disrupting a satellite link or a data centre can shape operations within hours. Industry has graduated from being the arsenal behind the fight to being part of the fight itself.

Private hands, public consequences

Much of this capacity lies outside government control. Commercial satellite communications kept Ukraine connected when traditional systems faltered, and AI platforms provided decision-making tools that would have taken defence ministries years to field independently. These are decisive contributions.

Yet, relying on commercial entities creates specific vulnerabilities. Dependence on a single provider can

create political leverage, and commercial services can be withdrawn or restricted at critical moments. At a recent NATO Industry conference, one hyperscaler described itself to an audience of officials as a “global patriot”. It was a striking phrase, but it forces us to ask whose flag a company truly flies when market logic conflicts with national security imperatives.

The essential principle is that delegating tasks to industry must not equate to relinquishing sovereign authority. Instead, it necessitates managing publicprivate interdependence with clear strategic objectives.

The cloud is not weightless

We often speak of the cloud as if it were immaterial. In reality, it is anchored in vast data centres owned by a small number of hyperscalers. These facilities host sensitive government data, power AI-driven decision support and consume staggering amounts of energy.

The war in Ukraine underscored this dependability. By offloading government data to the public cloud before the first missiles struck, Ukraine preserved the continuity of its state. What could have been destroyed in Kyiv’s ministries survived in data centres abroad. The cloud is material, resilient and, in this case, existential.

Adversaries weaponize industry

Autocratic regimes take a different approach. In Russia and China, industry is rarely just a partner; it is often an extension of the state. A significant percentage of major firms are state owned, giving governments direct leverage over industrial capacity.

Although this model provides control, it comes with costs: inefficiency, corruption and a dampening of innovation. NATO’s strength lies in the dynamism of our Allies’ private sector. However, we must actively manage a delicate balance. We need long-term partnerships that give industry the confidence to invest in complex capabilities, yet we must simultaneously maintain enough competition to drive the innovation that gives us our edge. Autocracies may lack this tension, but for NATO, managing it is essential to maintaining our advantage.

Furthermore, while NATO adheres to the responsible use of new technologies like artificial intelligence, potential adversaries may not apply the same limitations. By staying committed to ethical practices, NATO gains greater legitimacy and trust, bringing partners together through shared values.

If industry were a domain… If we were to treat industry as a domain of operations – again, as a metaphor – we see that its role increasingly mirrors the others in scope and impact. Like the recognized domains, industry operates within a distinct environment defined by economic parameters, rapid innovation, fierce competition and complex political realities.

The parallels are striking. NATO leaders now court CEOs as much as generals. Ukraine has a Ministry of Strategic Industries with uniformed staff. The Munich Security Conference has become as much a gathering of tech

entrepreneurs as of diplomats. NATO is undergoing major institutional changes through its Digital Transformation, including greater collaboration with industry. Initiatives such as DIANA engage start-ups, technical staff are integrated into NATO HQ to connect science and operations, and NCIA is implementing a strategic sourcing strategy focused on readiness and resilience.

NATO has made a strategic decision to leverage these capabilities, viewing Western industries as active, integrated partners in defence and deterrence, moving far beyond the traditional customer-supplier relationship.

Principles of war, applied to industry

If we extend the metaphor, classical principles of warfare take on new meaning:

• Surprise: disruptive innovation that blindsides adversaries.

• Economy of force: dual - use technologies that deliver maximum effect with minimal footprint.

• Security: protecting supply chains, intellectual property and data sovereignty.

• Unity of command: aligning industrial efforts across nations and operational plans.

NCIA at the crossroads of industry and readiness

For NCIA, this evolving relationship is not an abstract debate; it is our daily reality. Over the past few years, we have seen firsthand how adopting modern technologies has allowed us to turn the tide in critical areas. Whether through secure communications in Afghanistan, threat hunting on NATO networks, or the deployment of advanced software for operational planning, NCIA has been both a beneficiary of and a driver for adopting industry’s innovation.

This has been a transformational journey for NCIA itself. We have evolved from being primarily a provider of secure communications to becoming NATO’s digital backbone – integrating industrial innovation into the Alliance’s command structures, operations and deterrence posture. We are building the connective tissue between political ambition, military necessity and industrial innovation.

What has become clear is that readiness must remain the red thread running through everything we do. Technology for its own sake is insufficient. Our task is to ensure that every digital advance translates into operational readiness for the Alliance.

Industry cooperation must be fully integrated into NATO’s operational planning, rather than treated as an afterthought. This requires embedding industry experts directly into planning cells alongside military and civilian leaders to align technological capabilities with mission needs from the outset. Exercises and wargames should also reflect industry’s role, stress-testing how commercial innovations impact operations. By institutionalizing this collaboration, NATO can turn industry’s agility into a core operational advantage while reducing risks like overdependence or misalignment.

Looking ahead

If industry is indeed becoming a new domain of operations, then NCIA’s mission is clear: to help NATO navigate it with foresight, discipline and readiness. The landscape is shifting, and the Alliance must shift with it. Industry is not just a vendor; it is a strategic ally that demands the same foresight and unity of effort as any other part of our operational planning.

As I conclude my tenure, my message is simple: the NCIA Team and its strategic partners are ready to lead this transformation. The choice is not whether to engage with industry, but how to lead it.

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The future of Deployable Communication and Information Systems (DCIS)

Enabling seamless coordination anytime, anywhere

The landscape of military operations is evolving at an unprecedented pace, driven by increasing mission complexity, data saturation and the need for instant decision-making across domains. In this fast-moving environment, forces must be able to communicate, share intelligence and coordinate seamlessly –anytime, anywhere.

Ensuring secure, reliable and interoperable communications in such conditions has become one of the greatest challenges for modern armed forces. The ability to deliver operational advantage at the speed of relevance now depends as much on connectivity and information superiority as on physical assets.

How is Airbus envisioning the future of Deployable Communication and Information Systems (DCIS) to keep meeting these challenges?

For centuries, commanders have battled in a ‘fog of war’, described by Carl von Clausewitz as “the realm of uncertainty”. Our vision for DCIS radically transforms our approach: moving from traditional, systemcentric products to agile, cognitive, capability-driven services designed to deliver genuine decision advantage.

This seems less like a reaction to current trends and more like a long-term strategic direction. Has this been the plan for a while?

Looking back five years, our predictions for DCIS already included the DCIS CUBE 2.0 architecture,

which is basically a software-defined ‘datacentre in a box’, and NATO SD-WAN to create a resilient, military network fabric over connections of opportunity – ideas that once seemed rather futuristic. Today, these have become operational realities, forming the backbone of our current DCIS portfolio. Our roadmap remains a continuous, field-driven flow of innovation, prioritizing ongoing evolution over fixed milestones.

What are the core pillars of Airbus DCIS transformation?

1. The Tactical Cloud-Native Architecture: Instead of deploying racks of discrete single-purpose hardware and virtualized software, we are converging all CIS services network, IT, cyber, voice and video into a secure, unified, micro-segmented, softwaredefined architecture. For sensitive classifications, this means deploying secure air-gapped ‘private clouds’ that provide the power of cloud agility in fully disconnected environments. This boosts scalability, resilience and new capabilities deployment speed.

2. Lean-Agile at the Edge (SAFe): The traditional models are simply too rigid and slow for the modern battlespace. We must constantly find new ways of working. This means transforming our solution into a pragmatic Lean-Agile Governance culture model and the Scaled Agile Framework

NATO subject matter expert, Airbus

Airbus Norway Managing Director

Chand Svare

Lars Nesse

(SAFe) with an evolving feedback loop with the users. This iterative approach ensures solutions that evolve in real-time with operational needs: we build precisely what users need when they need it.

3. DCIS as a Military Service (DCISaaMS): This all builds up to the final and most critical piece: delivering DCIS as a military service (DCISaaMS). It is a remade model where we deliver mission assurance through service excellence, supporting the full spectrum of operations from peacetime through crisis. This is not simply corporate IT with a camouflage pattern; the ‘M’ stands for a catering to the military context. It reflects our deep understanding of defencespecific needs, providing dynamic scalability and resilience. While they focus on their core mission, we take care of the technology.

How will artificial intelligence fit into the future DCIS model to provide decision advantage?

AI is becoming the central nervous system of DCIS enabling the analysis of data, the reshaping of protocols and frameworks, and even rebuilding the information and communicationcentric technology (ICT) stacks, for the systems to self-optimize and adapt beyond a human-readable code. By merging operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT), DCIS will evolve into a sensor-rich platform, capable of interpreting vast data streams from the internet of military things (IoMT), ISR feeds and smart infrastructure. We are embedding AI-optimized hardware and MLOps platforms right at the tactical edge, transforming raw data into real-time, actionable insight – the foundation of decision dominance.

How does physical hardware fit into this intelligent ecosystem?

Our approach is ‘phygital’: the deep, seamless fusion of physical with digital worlds. Relatively passive infrastructure is being transformed into intelligent, network-aware nodes. A generator, for instance, will no longer simply provide power; it will report its own fuel status, predict when it needs maintenance and optimize energy output based on real-time mission demand. This integration turns every deployed asset into a data node – a live component of the sensor platform.

This level of agility and connectivity must present new security challenges. How are you managing accreditation in such a dynamic environment?

Traditional accreditation cannot keep up with agile technology and methodology. We are therefore implementing agile continuous assurance: a new model where security is integrated, continuous and insight driven. Security accreditation becomes a continuous, integrated live process, supported by real-time cyber security dashboards and ongoing risk-informed decision-making, providing security at the speed of relevance.

How is the DCIS vision engineered to enable multidomain operations?

With Federated Mission Networking (FMN) reaching the maturity of Spiral Level 4 or higher, initial MDO capabilities are already available. However, true MDO requires a fundamental shift, which is at the heart of our Airbus MDO concept as we are transitioning to a data-centric ICT architecture, secured by militarygrade zero-trust and AI-enhanced orchestration. This will, in turn, enable us to break down silos between domains and fuse insight, identity and orchestration, leading to

superior situational awareness.

A sensor in one domain will be able to securely cue an effector in another – instantly and intelligently.

NATO is looking to use sovereign cloud models for its lower security classifications. How does Airbus DCIS integrate with this?

This evolution aligns perfectly with our strategy. While higher classified domains will absolutely continue relying on secure, air-gapped private clouds for maximum security, our lower-classification solutions are being designed for seamless integration and federation with the accredited sovereign public clouds. This ensures flexibility and security across classification levels.

What is the ultimate goal for Airbus DCIS within the Alliance?

Sun Tzu wrote: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” Today, the foundation of that art begins with information superiority. Our ambition is to provide NATO and its members with the most resilient, intelligent and adaptable information ecosystem possible. By deeply integrating with the NATO Digital Backbone and the Digital Software Foundry, and by fostering innovation through partnerships, we aim to move from being a technology provider to a strategic partner. Ultimately, we are transforming DCIS from a communication system into a cognition system, empowering the Alliance to maintain its decisive edge for decades to come. defence-solutions.airbus.com

FAREWELL LETTER TO NITECH READERS A LEGACY OF CONNECTION AND A FUTURE OF INNOVATION

Dear Reader, when we launched the very first edition of NITECH, our vision was ambitious but clear. As stated in that inaugural foreword, we set out to “promote the tremendous effort that NCIA puts into supporting and encouraging the partnership between the tech industry, NCIA, the wider NATO Alliance and its Member States.”

Looking back at 14 editions, we can say with great pride that NITECH fulfilled that mission.

As we announce that this will be the final edition of NITECH, we celebrate the fact that this publication has become far more than a mouthpiece for NCIA. It grew into a true platform for the entire NATO ecosystem. Over the years, we have hosted vital debates and insights not just from our own experts, but from colleagues across NATO and national commands.

Crucially, NITECH served as a bridge to the private sector. We have long maintained that a dialogue on defence would be remiss without industry, and your contributions have been central to our storytelling. From the art of the possible to the technical realities of procurement, industry partners have helped us define what the technological edge really means.

This final edition is packed with the forward-looking analysis you have come to expect. The central theme is multi-domain operations (MDO) – the complex orchestration of military activities across all five domains.

In the pages that follow, our contributors unpack, among other fascinating topics, how to effectively

integrate cyber capabilities into MDO, the growing necessity for civilian involvement in national security and the human role in an increasingly automated battlespace. We truly believe it’s our best edition yet.

Before you dive into those deep discussions, we invite you to pause on the next spread for a special retrospective. We have curated a visual timeline of the past seven years, charting the evolution of NITECH alongside the historic shifts in the Alliance, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the invasion of Ukraine.

Reaching this milestone would have been impossible without a vast team. We celebrated our 10th edition by gathering quotes from across our community, and the sentiment remains true today: NITECH was built on collaboration.

We must extend a special thank you to the journalists whose curiosity and skill turned complex technical briefs into compelling stories. To the subject matter experts, military leaders and industry executives who contributed their time and intellect: thank you for trusting us with your voice.

NITECH as a magazine ends here, but NCIA’s story is only getting faster, louder and more critical. We invite you to stay connected with us on our website (ncia.nato.int), LinkedIn, Instagram, X and Facebook.

Enjoy this final issue.

The NITECH Editorial Team

NATO at 70 Leaders gather in London to mark the 70th anniversary of the Alliance. Space is declared an operational domain, alongside air, land, sea and cyber.

NITECH is born

The magazine launches at the NITEC19 conference in Oslo. In the opening foreword, the aim is set: to give industry a platform to “demonstrate the art of the possible”.

A global pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic forces the world into lockdown. NATO Foreign Ministers meet securely via teleconference for the first time in history.

Space: the new frontier While the world locks down, NITECH looks to the stars. Issue 4 focuses on NATO’s newest domain, featuring an exclusive interview with Alyssa Carson, the teenage astronaut trainee preparing to be the first human on Mars.

NATO

2030

At the Brussels Summit, Allied Leaders agree on the NATO 2030 agenda to strengthen the Alliance in a more competitive world.

New NCIA leadership Kevin J. Scheid completes his tenure as General Manager. Ludwig Decamps takes the helm of NCIA, driving a renewed focus on agility and digital transformation.

War in Europe Russia invades Ukraine. The security environment in Europe shifts dramatically, bringing a renewed focus on collective defence and resilience.

A decade of delivery in a new reality

As NCIA celebrates its 10th anniversary, the war in Ukraine shifts the focus to immediate operational readiness. NITECH covers the pivot, detailing the rapid deployment of communication equipment to the eastern flank.

Finland joins the Alliance

Finland becomes the 31st member of NATO, doubling the Alliance’s border with Russia and reshaping the security map of Northern Europe.

N I T E C H

10 editions of NITECH

The magazine celebrates its double-digit milestone. Defence Ministers, the Chair of the Military Committee and industry leaders contribute testimonials on the importance of the publication.

Sweden joins and NATO turns 75

The Alliance welcomes Sweden as its 32nd member and celebrates 75 years of collective defence at the Washington Summit.

NATO Edge special edition

NITECH joins forces with NCIA’s flagship conference, NATO Edge. This special edition features insights from key speakers and mirrors the event’s agenda, exploring the critical technologies driving the conversation.

A new Secretary General

Mark Rutte takes office as NATO Secretary General, steering the Alliance through a complex landscape of hybrid threats and digital challenges.

NITECH evolves

After seven years and 14 editions, NITECH magazine publishes its final issue. NCIA’s storytelling transitions to a digital-first model to keep pace with the speed of innovation.

Is our security becoming a battle of AIs?

The revolution in generative AI is shifting the security landscape

From the battlefield to the data centre, artificial intelligence may become the dominant factor in determining the outcome of any conflict. With parallels to the harnessing of nuclear fission back in the 1940s, AI seems to be reaching a tipping point, radically changing the nature of conflict and potentially altering the balance between attackers and defenders.

Already used extensively in the optimization of data analysis, logistics and decision-making, AI has pervaded all sectors – including military. On the battlefield, the most prominent use so far, recently demonstrated to devastating effect in Russia and Ukraine, has been in unmanned aerial vehicles. These range from quadcopters that serve as kamikazelike munitions as well as delivery systems capable of firing multiple missiles and returning for resupply like piloted aircraft.

Once purely the stuff of science fiction, the prospect of future battles being fought between robotically augmented human warriors and their

supporting drones (either individual or in swarms) now seems not only plausible but likely. Certainly, AI is set to play an increasingly important role in future conflict and heralds a likely revolution in military affairs.

Unsurprisingly, the influence of AI in cyberwarfare promises to be greater still and possibly to be evolving even faster.

The rise of GenAI

The explosion of AI into public awareness is mostly due to the recent emergence of powerful generative AI (GenAI), enabled by advances in processing speed and deep learning models that enable it to be increasingly powerful and affordable.

However, in addition to GenAI, we see continued advances in discriminative/ predictive AI that is central to both AI-powered automation and cybersecurity. Predictive AI has been a cornerstone of cyber-threat research and response for over a decade, and FortiGuard Labs (Fortinet’s threat research organization) derives actionable threat intelligence from the billions of pieces of security data it collects each day.

But while discriminative AI continues to play a vital role in cyber defence, the revolution in GenAI is a tide that raises all boats – both friendly and foe.

Cyber threats increasing in volume and variety

Unlike discriminative AI, which focuses on predicting what category a new piece of data belongs to, GenAI can synthesize entirely novel data including text, images and, most significantly in this context, computer code. As such, GenAI is poised to

democratize the development of software, increasing the number of vulnerabilities malicious actors exploit from its current level of less than 5% of the total and broadening the variety and diversity of attacks. Furthermore, GenAI can generate code much faster than human programmers, potentially shrinking the time window between public disclosure of new vulnerabilities and the emergence of malware to exploit them.

So, while customers might typically have had days or even weeks to apply vendor-created patches or workarounds for newly discovered vulnerabilities, with GenAI, we may soon see exploits in the wild within hours or even minutes. Furthermore, attackers can use GenAI to quickly analyse new patches and security response tactics and produce new variants to evade or defeat them.

In addition to its use in the coding of exploits, GenAI is also being used to increase the credibility of phishing and other social engineering attacks, creating ever-more convincing text, voice and even deep-fake video interactions with victims.

Even the reconnaissance phase of cyber crime (identifying the most lucrative potential victims and mapping their networks) is being transformed by AI, increasing the breadth, speed and accuracy of pre-attack examination and assessment of potential targets.

Intelligent, automated cybersecurity – is it enough? Of course, as well as enabling malicious cyber actors to search for vulnerabilities, AI is being used to find

Head of Cyber Policy and Global Field CISO, Fortinet

Jim Richberg

bugs and mitigate potential security flaws in legitimate software. This is especially important where developers make use of open-source and other third-party software modules in their software supply chains.

As a result, an increasing number of cybersecurity solutions, including those from Fortinet, already use AI to assist in identifying vulnerabilities and prioritizing their resolution. Similarly, with the volume of security data expanding as the number of digitally connected devices and applications continue to grow, security teams that are already thinly stretched due to the global skills shortage can leverage AI-powered automation to interpret the torrent of raw data from across their networks and determine and execute the most appropriate response to anomalous or malicious activity.

Traditional stovepiped cybersecurity solutions, point products designed to protect against specific categories of threat, often fail to stop today’s more sophisticated multi-vector attacks. Consequently, solutions that make use of AI to help correlate indicators of compromise from multiple sources of data and integrate defensive

activity across disparate security solutions are better able to deal with AI-powered attackers.

However, despite the clear and numerous advantages of AI-powered cybersecurity, there is another, more insidious problem lurking below the surface. Even if patches for known software vulnerability exploits are made available to users of those products, patches must be applied to be effective.

The term ‘N-day vulnerability’ refers to the number of days (N) since a vulnerability was disclosed and a patch was released, and many users fail to apply patches in a timely fashion – or even at all. An attacker doesn’t need to develop a novel (zero day) exploit when lucrative targets fail to apply existing patches to resolve known vulnerabilities. AI can help enterprises with vulnerability management, identifying vulnerabilities and even applying patches, but too few organizations currently avail themselves of such tools.

The road ahead

The AI genie is out of the bottle and will change our world forever. To harness its power for good, optimizing autonomy and automation

on the digital battlefield with strong, adaptive cybersecurity will be essential. But only through collaboration among industry, governments and other public bodies can we counter the scale and complexity of today’s AI-powered threat landscape.

Companies such as Fortinet continue to innovate and deploy AI-enhanced solutions commercially, enabling governments to focus on the technically challenging and fast-moving national security challenges of AI-powered automation while leveraging commercial cybersecurity capabilities.

This means choosing partners with a track record of AI innovation (both generative and predictive) and who are committed to ‘secure by design’ – the belief that strong security must be integral to the entire life cycle of IT products and services, from initial design through deployment and use. fortinet.com/uk/trust

A NEW BLUEPRINT FOR NATO EDGE 2026

NCIA Chief of Acquisition Marianne Roth unveils the visionary new concept for NATO Edge 2026, outlining how the event has been redesigned – offering a mission-critical opportunity for NATO, Allies and industry to work together and transform intent into delivery to strengthen NATO’s readiness and warfighting posture

The strategic landscape we operate in today is fundamentally different from that of even a few years ago. We face a more dangerous and complex world, one in which the resilience and readiness of our Alliance are tested daily. In this new era, NATO Allies have been unequivocal: our deterrence and defence depend on speed, scale and readiness across all domains. This must be supported by technological capabilities that are secure, digital and, above all, adaptable.

As the Chief of Acquisition for NCIA, I see this challenge through the lens of capability delivery. The pressure to deliver is real. Defence budgets are rising and our capability targets are more ambitious than ever. The critical question is no longer just what we need to do, but how we accelerate our efforts to match this new urgency. We cannot afford a gap between intent and capability. It is precisely to close this gap that we have radically redesigned NATO Edge. The 2026 edition offers a mission-critical opportunity for NATO, Allies and our industry partners to work together and transform intent into tangible delivery.

A platform reimagined

In the past, our flagship industry events, including NATO Edge 24, followed a traditional model of panels, keynotes and top-down presentations. They were future-focused dialogues, centred on technology and innovation as enablers. This approach served its purpose, but the current context demands more.

To meet the urgency of today, NATO Edge 26 will serve a different purpose. We are reprioritizing our inputs to focus squarely on outputs with the highest expected value. We are, in effect, ‘flipping the pyramid’.

The objective is no longer just discussion, it is to establish NATO Edge as a true delivery platform.

This is not just another conference. It is a mission-driven, operational platform. We are moving away from monologue – instead, we are embracing dialogue. The new concept is built on an operational focus where delivery and readiness are the only options.

The entire event has been redesigned to foster practical cooperation, accelerate delivery and drive innovation. We are answering the call from the NATO Secretary General to “unite, innovate and deliver” by creating an event where every single component is tied back to our core objective: readiness through delivery.

This translates into a new programme built on targeted sessions, capability briefings, practical workshops and structured one-to-one meetings. We are introducing formats such as NCIA–industry speed-dating and problem-solving workshops specifically designed to co-create solutions. The engagement model is shifting from top-down information sharing to two-way, bottom-up, structured cooperation.

Connecting needs with capabilities

As a platform, the purpose of NATO Edge 26 is threefold: to discover industry capabilities, to disclose NATO needs and to diversify NCIA’s supply base. To achieve this, our new approach is built on four clear, interlocking event objectives.

First, we must clearly disclose NATO’s needs. As NATO accelerates its digital transformation, industry cannot deliver if it does not understand the requirements. A core function of NATO Edge 26 will be to clearly communicate our strategic and operational needs, connecting them directly to NCIA’s procurement planning. We are committed to using simplified language and accessible, two-way formats to ensure industry, from prime contractors to single entrepreneurs, understands our challenges and upcoming procurement timelines.

Second, we must be better at discovering the capabilities of industry. The private sector, from established defence firms to agile start-ups, often outpaces traditional acquisition timelines. To maintain our technological edge, we must tap into this innovation more flexibly. NATO Edge will provide the forum for NATO leaders and experts to understand industry’s solutions, delivery capacity and technology roadmaps. We will move beyond static displays to emphasise live demonstrations and innovation showcases, helping our internal teams to discover solutions already on the market.

Third, we are committed to diversifying our supply base. Resilience in acquisition is achieved through a deep, diverse and secure industrial base. This is a personal priority for me. We are actively designing NATO Edge 26 to reach underrepresented Nations, new national markets and companies of all sizes.

We are specifically targeting an increase in participation from start-ups and SMEs, as well as not-for-profit organizations and providers of dual-use technologies. We want to create clear entry pathways for new partners.

Fourth, we will consolidate NATO Edge as the flagship platform for strategic NATO-industry engagement. This is not a one-off event. We are positioning NATO Edge as a central pillar of the wider NATO-industry partnership engagement ecosystem, alongside the NATO Industry Forum and the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum. It will be the premier forum focused on capability development and, most importantly, project delivery.

What you can expect in Türkiye

Hosted in the beautiful city of İzmir, Türkiye, NATO Edge 26 will reflect the Alliance’s geographical breadth and operational depth. For our industry partners, this redesigned event offers a fundamentally new value proposition.

You can expect:

A mission-driven format that is interactive by design, with more engagement and a clear focus on actionable outcomes:

• Business-focused sessions structured to directly align industry solutions with NATO’s most pressing needs;

• Direct insights from NCIA, Allies and end users, giving you early visibility into capability development, funding strategies and upcoming procurement opportunities;

• An opportunity for early engagement to help shape NATO’s next-generation capabilities from the outset;

• A unique platform to highlight your capabilities and display your innovation directly to NATO decision makers, government representatives, end users and industry peers.

This is where aggregated capability demand signals will be turned into tangible solutions. This is where we will strengthen NATO’s readiness and warfighting posture.

In this critical moment for our security, we must act with urgency, from requirements to results. NATO Edge is where we will align to deliver faster, better and together. Now is the time to accelerate delivery and build our readiness for today and tomorrow. We look forward to welcoming you and working with you in Türkiye.

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

Adopting AI with sovereign data in the cloud

Google Cloud offers significant value when it comes to supporting defence

John Abel

Managing Director, Office of the CTO, Google Cloud

What attracted you to Google Cloud?

I’ve always had a passion for technology, especially emerging technologies. After a long and rewarding career at Oracle, I wanted to return to my roots as a technologist. Joining the Office of the CTO at Google enabled me to refocus on engineering and innovation. Google has always been a hub for cutting-edge technical developments, particularly in AI. For example, Google Research DeepMind pioneered technologies such as TensorFlow and the transformer architecture for large language models (LLMs). For anyone passionate about innovation, there’s simply no better place to be.

How do these emerging technologies you mention address the challenges the defence sector is facing?

Google Cloud is working with several defence organizations in Europe, and our technological developments are addressing many of the challenges they face, particularly by using emerging technologies. Essentially, I would say Google Cloud offers significant value across four key pillars to support defence.

• Firstly, in enhanced security and resilience, Google Cloud provides advanced security tools, including the Security Command Center for threat detection and compliance, and Google Threat Intelligence for large-scale security analytics and investigation. The adoption of zero-trust architectures fosters a ‘never trust, always verify’ culture, while sovereign cloud solutions, such as Google Distributed Cloud with air-gapped capabilities, enable operations at a higher classification level and enable disconnection from the public cloud when required.

• Secondly, Google Cloud supports interoperability and data sharing through federated cloud technology, facilitating seamless movement between public and air-gapped environments. This enables advanced analytics and AI/ML capabilities with tools such as BigQuery and VertexAI, and supports open standards and APIs to create a robust digital backbone for secure data exchange.

• Thirdly, rapid innovation and modernization are enabled by cloud-native development, allowing organizations to develop and update mission-critical software efficiently, leveraging AI-driven tools to accelerate progress.

• Finally, Google Cloud delivers operational agility and scalability, offering flexible storage and compute options, geographic risk distribution and interoperability across ecosystems, both in public and air-gapped environments. This comprehensive approach uniquely positions Google Cloud as a strategic partner for secure, innovative and scalable digital transformation.

As a strategic partner to several defence organizations in Europe, what advice would you give to those that are undertaking a digital transformation?

Every organization must decide the best direction, scope and speed for their digital transformation journey, but having spent years in this field, here are my top tips:

• avoid a big bang approach. Prioritize areas with real mission friction, and start there.

Demonstrating how technology can solve mission problems is a rapid way to earn trust,

• focus on the task at hand and link it to the supporting data,

• run pilot experiments and build trust in the new technology,

• use open-source frameworks such as Google’s Agent Development Kit for rapid progress,

• bring in early cross-functional leads; transformation is a team sport,

• measure efficiency gains, let the output itself tell a compelling story.

Which aspects of NATO’s digital transformation journey do you see as fundamental to its ability to conduct multi-domain operations (MDO) and where can industry support?

Interoperability and standardization:

This is crucial, especially for multinational organizations such as NATO, where data must be consistent – data must be presented in a standard format. Once that has been achieved it enables the reliable common interpretation that then allows an organization to integrate AI and other data applications.

Data governance and sharing: Modern requirements demand granular policies for access control and lineage tracking; therefore, technology companies must work closely with organizations like NATO to guide them through these industry shifts. Significantly, emerging architectures such as data mesh treat data as a product, ensuring it is discoverable, trustworthy and compliant within national security levels.

Security and resilience: As you would expect these are central to Google Cloud’s approach. We employ a zero-trust model, focusing on securing data regardless of its location or who accesses it. We invented Confidential Computing to enable data processing within secure enclaves. Moreover, federated security controls and digital sovereignty strategies ensure data can be located, operated and managed securely, even in air-gapped environments. For example, our Google Distributed Cloud appliance offers stripped-down, secure data solutions.

Talent culture and adoption: Digital literacy, data fluency and AI literacy are now fundamental, requiring new skills and learning pathways. Data-driven decision-making and mission planning are increasingly infused with AI, but effective use depends on knowledge experts who understand both the challenges and the technology. With the rise of generative AI, the knowledge expert becomes the primary user, and therefore enthusiasm and engagement with generative AI are essential – they must become experts in using these tools.

Data driven decision-making ideally needs blended Open-Source and Restricted data assessments. What do you see as the primary challenge for NATO in creating this integration? Without doubt, blending public and classified data presents tough challenges. Trust in public data is

paramount as data pipelines must move information from lower to higher classification securely, addressing accreditation, isolation, provenance and reclassification. It is worth noting that not all data needs to be recent; publicly available historical datasets can provide valuable insights when enriched with modern analytics. For example, I have been experimenting with data from the UK’s Imperial War Museum to see how we can gain tangible insights from the two world wars.

Looking ahead, how do you see the nature of collaboration shifting?

Collaboration is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Traditionally, it was people-to-people via tools such as email, chat or phone. Now, with the introduction of AI agents, collaboration is increasingly taking place between people-toagents, agents-to-people and agents-to-agents. Software agents –systems with perception, reasoning, decision-making and goal orientation – are becoming integral. In the future, employees will have multiple agents assisting with tasks, from summarizing information to contextual data analysis. Trust and transparency in these agents will be vital, as will the ability to explain their decisions.

How will this shift to generative AI agents change operating models and human-machine teaming?

Generative AI now enables multimodal analysis, connecting diverse media types for deeper understanding. Therefore, operating models will shift from manual analysis to automated synthesis. Currently, much time is spent finding, cleaning and correlating data. AI agents will perform these tasks in seconds, providing real-time summaries and taking multiple actions quickly. Planning will move from being static to dynamic, with agents monitoring data streams, predicting threats and triggering

alerts for human intervention. Again, trust and data lineage remain essential.

How will the cloud and AI enable leaders to make better, faster decisions?

AI-powered agents will enable leaders to process more data with less effort, gaining more refined insights faster. Agents will act as knowledge experts, providing clarity and uncovering new perspectives. Even without deep domain expertise, users can leverage these tools for broader understanding and better decision-making. Security, sovereignty and data lineage remain critical, but the speed and depth of insight are transformative – reducing decision times from days to minutes, and providing personnel with more time to apply the human-centric thinking skills and reasoning to the agent-generated insights and perspectives. In short, agents will free up valuable time to decision makers and their teams, which will be a massive benefit to any defence organization. Without doubt, giving humans the time to do the reasoning they excel at, augmented by AI-generated enriched insights in faster time, will create fundamental changes in operating models and provide unparalleled mission-critical advantage.

ENABLING MDO THROUGH DIGITAL RESILIENCE

NCIA Chief of Staff Major General

Krzysztof Kociuba highlights NCIA’s role in enabling NATO’s ability to conduct multi-domain operations while remaining ever ready to face challenges across all its operating domains

Over the past decade, NATO has reshaped its strategic posture to meet an increasingly complex security environment. In 2014, following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, Allies approved the Readiness Action Plan, committing to strengthen deterrence, improve responsiveness and reinforce forward presence. That decision set NATO on a path of continuous adaptation, enhancing its ability to deploy forces quickly, operate jointly, conduct multi-domain operations (MDO) and respond to crises swiftly. All of NATO must remain agile and responsive in the face of rapidly changing events, and it must equip its commanders and leaders with the information they need to make timely decisions.

Readiness today is measured not only by the number of troops, aircraft or ships, but also in how fast and effectively secure information moves. Modern operations increasingly span air, land, sea, cyber and space and the ability to connect, share data and act together in real-time defines success as much as any traditional military metric. NATO’s digital backbone is now as vital as its physical one. A resilient, integrated digital infrastructure enables NATO commanders to perceive the environment, understand threats and make coordinated decisions faster than potential adversaries. This is the essence of MDO: aligning capabilities and effects across all domains to maintain the Alliance’s operational edge.

“ Readiness today is no longer just a matter of posture, it is a matter of connection”

The digital backbone of multi-domain operations

Enabling MDO through the flow of information is NCIA’s daily work. NCIA designs, delivers and defends the unified communication networks and systems that enable NATO forces to operate securely, seamlessly and at speed. From deployed mission networks to the everyday digital services supporting NATO Headquarters across the Alliance, its engineers, analysts and cyber experts enable the flow of trusted information that underpins deterrence and defence. NCIA integrates command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) at every level to connect decision-makers and operators.

NATO exercises such as Steadfast Defender, Steadfast Cobalt and CWIX test the network under realistic conditions, providing reliable, ready communications protected under a layer of cyber security. Cyber security is foundational to C4ISR. In a connected battlespace, any weaknesses in networks or systems provide adversaries with opportunities to attack, resulting in immediate operational consequences. The goal of cyber security is resilience by design, ensuring that NATO commanders and their forces can rely on the networks even in the most challenging situations.

NCIA cyber teams at the NATO Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) monitor and protect NATO’s digital infrastructure around the clock. They detect threats, respond to incidents and strengthen defences across networks and deployed environments. A protected environment equals a ready environment, and the NCSC assures network readiness throughout the Alliance, even as it adapts to a variety of evolving threats.

NCIA is driving NATO’s digital transformation Through the development of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data utilization, automation and other advanced technologies, NCIA is accelerating NATO’s decision-making cycle and enhancing situational awareness. By investing in data systems that facilitate the rapid and secure transfer of information,

as well as tools that convert raw data into actionable insights, NCIA ensures operational efficiency.

Embedding innovation into daily operations ensures NATO stays at the forefront of technological advancements and keeps pace with the cutting edge of industry.

Transformation relies on partnership

As industry drives much of the innovation that shapes the information domain, NATO must effectively collaborate with industry to modernize its digital capabilities. NCIA has expanded its partnerships with the private sector to deliver cutting-edge solutions more efficiently. By leveraging open competitions, framework agreements and early engagement with industry, NCIA can quickly integrate commercial innovation into NATO systems while safeguarding interoperability, resilience and security.

NCIA has undertaken significant improvements to strengthen its readiness and performance. Over the past few years, it has streamlined its business intake, improved capability and service delivery methods and enhanced workforce development to deliver a consistent, agile customer response. NCIA is focused on modernizing procurement processes, investing in digital tools to boost transparency and efficiency, and fostering shared understanding through well-documented readiness processes and procedures.

The Readiness and Response Concept of Operations (R2 CONOPS) describes NCIA’s crisis response and business continuity processes. It defines roles, facilitates leadership coordination and ensures NCIA can effectively respond to crises and contingencies across the full spectrum of Allied operations. By providing clear processes and enhancing situational awareness, it supports timely decisionmaking and coordination with NATO Headquarters, the Strategic Commands and partner agencies. NCIA’s Tabletop Exercise validated the CONOPS, leading to greater training participation in NATO

exercises. These exercises are becoming the norm, helping NCIA to identify strengths, address gaps in processes, mitigate risks, refine procedures and fulfill requirements – ensuring its readiness to support the Alliance in any situation.

Challenges remain NATO’s C4ISR landscape is a complex mix of national contributions, legacy platforms and emerging technologies. Interoperability gaps continue to persist, especially as new domains, such as space and cyber, evolve rapidly. To address gaps, NCIA and NATO must develop open architectures and shared standards through sustained investment, Allied commitment and collaboration with industry. NATO must also treat its digital infrastructure as a collective strategic asset on par with conventional forces to achieve unity of effort and ensure effective deterrence.

The future will further test NATO’s adaptability Strategic competition is intensifying, hybrid attacks are blurring the boundaries between peace and conflict, and digital dependencies increase exponentially. Adversaries remain poised to exploit the information environment and weaken NATO’s cohesion. To counter these challenges, NATO must anticipate, decide and act faster than those who seek to undermine it. NCIA connects Allies, safeguards information and empowers decisionmaking. Its foremost mission is to ensure NATO defence remains as powerful in cyberspace as on land, at sea, in the air and in space. NCIA will continue to evolve, partner and innovate, because readiness today is no longer just a matter of posture, it is a matter of connection. Through cooperation with partners, teamwork, innovative talent and advanced technology, NCIA stands ready to keep NATO connected, resilient and prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.

Major General Krzysztof Kociuba addresses delegates at the 10th International Cyber Security Summer School (ICSSS) in August 2025 (PHOTO: NCIA)

Securing and strengthening operational resilience and collaboration

Security solutions that do not compromise on usability or control

Fredrik Sundström

Business Area Manager, Enterprise Mobile Security, Sectra

Product & Portfolio Manager, Enterprise Mobile Security, Sectra

Why do heightened geopolitical tensions affect the resilience and preparedness of organizations such as NATO?

Fredrik Sundström: The hybrid warfare NATO countries are being increasingly subjected to brings an expansion in hostile activities, both physical and virtual. Recent drone incursions, acts of arson and even assassinations play alongside a massive digital threat of disinformation campaigns, ransomware attacks, hacking, espionage and data manipulation – all designed to destabilize and weaken NATO societies. The intensity of these activities puts an enormous strain on resources and capabilities and requires enhanced security for data and communications networks. These attacks are aimed not just at NATO’s defence communities; they are also executed against civil society including critical national infrastructure and commerce.

From your perspective, what are the key challenges NATO now faces in terms of secure digital collaboration and remote access?

Fredrik Waern: The acceleration of the cyber threat, in particular, requires both increased alertness and closer collaboration across NATO, but the lack of a universal common secure communication system across NATO that is scalable and easy to use while offering sovereign control when required can make collaboration challenging.

Fredrik Sundström: There are suitable solutions for digital collaboration at classification levels such as NATO SECRET, for example Sectra Tiger/S. At this level of security, communication systems must meet very strict requirements regarding platform control, system design, supply chain integrity and origin. However, not everyone communicates information at this classification level. At lower classification levels, such as NATO RESTRICTED and below, there are fewer standardized solutions and significantly more variation in how organizations approach secure communication. This makes cross-border collaboration more difficult and highlights the need for scalable, user-friendly systems that can bridge these gaps.

Can Sectra help NATO overcome these realworld challenges while delivering that essential sovereign control, scalability and usability?

Fredrik Sundström: Sectra has a very strong history in secure communications systems stretching back to 1978. Traditionally, we have focused our products, such as the Sectra Tiger/S secure mobile communications system at the NATO SECRET classification level. This is still extremely relevant, but as the hybrid threat expands, we need to establish a wider community of users. This is why we launched Sectra Tiger/E Managed Service in November 2025 as a secure communications service designed to meet the growing

Fredrik Waern

demand for scalable and user-friendly solutions for sensitive, unclassified information. In parallel, Sectra Remote Connect for Windows is finalized and launched early 2026, targeting approval for protecting NATO RESTRICTED classified information.

What are Sectra Tiger/E Managed Service and the Sectra Remote Connect for Windows?

Fredrik Waern: Sectra Tiger/E Managed Service and Sectra Remote Connect for Windows are two new products that enable secure communication. The situation in Ukraine has shown us that if secure communication tools aren’t simple to use, they won’t be used at all – even when they’re most needed. In crisis situations, the ability to run secure solutions on COTS devices such as smartphones, tablets or laptops offers a real advantage: they’re available, familiar and fast to deploy. Usability and flexibility are just as critical as technical assurance in real-world operations, and we think we have managed to find an efficient balance between usability, availability and security. We have designed these new solutions to make Sectra’s expertise in secure communications more accessible to a much wider community – both in the defence and civil sectors.

The Sectra Tiger/E Managed Service is a smartphone/tablet-based secure communications service that bridges the gap between everyday communications and NATO

RESTRICTED communications.

The same secure system can be used for normal work tasks as well as more sensitive activities, thanks to a dual-environment architecture that separates the two areas from one another. It incorporates secure speech, secure messaging and secure video conferencing. In addition, users can share documents using the system to enhance levels of collaboration even from remote locations. It has been designed to be very easy to use and familiar to new users. Everything works seamlessly in the background.

Organizations can join this service not only to communicate within their own organization, in for example common chat groups, but the service can also interconnect different organizations with each other to enable the wider collaboration that is so urgently needed. In this way, organizations can retain sovereign control as well as federate the systems beyond their own organization if they wish.

We run this service in a very controlled environment. It’s not like a public cloud service. From a robustness, resilience and security perspective it’s a deeply controlled environment, ensuring availability and business continuity.

Fredrik Sundström: Remote work is now a standard part of operations, even for organizations handling classified and sensitive information. Sectra Remote Connect for Windows is developed to meet this reality –providing secure remote access

with the same level of protection and performance as working inside a secure office. It’s a fully softwarebased solution, always on and designed to be as seamless as possible for the user. Once installed, there’s no need for extra hardware or complicated logins – without any extra effort you simply open your laptop and work securely. Behind the scenes, it uses a patented architecture with nested VPN tunnels, detailed network filtering and quantumresilient encryption to protect all data in transit. The organization retains full control over traffic and access, ensuring security without compromising usability.

The two solutions are very complementary, and we envisage customers opting for both. Sectra Tiger/E Managed Service offers secure mobile communication for users who need flexibility and mobility – whether in the field or during a crisis. Sectra Remote Connect for Windows, at the same time, provides secure remote access to internal systems and classified information, with the same level of protection as working inside a secure office. Together, they offer a broader security posture: enabling both mobile collaboration and secure remote access without compromising usability or control.

communications.sectra.com

SMARTER,

STRONGER: WHY GENDER AWARENESS IS NATO’S DIGITAL ADVANTAGE

NATO’s Digital Champion, Major General Dominique Luzeaux and Captain Lennie Roux le Jallé, Gender Advisor at NATO ACT, highlight the need to eliminate gender biases in the digital sphere to enhance military capability and implement robust multi-domain operations

Human capability lies at the core of the Alliance’s fighting power, critical to future military effectiveness and the realization of a fully multi-domain operationsenabled Alliance. However, there are three critical areas that have a significant impact on NATO’s future MDO operational capability: the role of gender awareness in NATO’s digital transformation; how the Alliance can be stronger together; and how applying a gender perspective can become a strategic advantage.

Gender responsiveness in NATO’s digital transformation

As digital tools become integral to every aspect of life, it is crucial to consider the gendered implications of how military and non-military actors define, design,

develop and deploy capabilities and enablers such as new technologies. Digital tools now influence audiences and users across physical, cognitive and virtual dimensions, operating simultaneously across multiple domains and environments.

Building a truly multi-domain force, one where every warfighter can effectively harness technologies, is essential to NATO’s decisive advantage, future readiness and success. Integrating gender perspective across digital innovation is not just about equitable opportunity; it is a strategic enabler that strengthens operational effectiveness, innovation and resilience.

Technology reflects the people who create it. Because technologies are designed and trained by humans, they often replicate human biases. Artificial intelligence systems, for instance, have been shown to perpetuate gender and racial bias. A recent study, Evaluating Gender Bias of LLMs in Making Morality Judgements, found that despite safety checks and reinforcement learning, all large language models tested displayed significant gender biases, consistently favouring women in moral decision-making. Similarly, a 2018 MIT Media Lab study showed that facial recognition systems were far less accurate in identifying darker-skinned women than lighter-skinned men. Such biases in data-driven tools can shape planning, decision-making and operational outcomes, with serious consequences for women, girls and marginalized groups.

Technology also links the physical and digital worlds in ways that can create new threats. One of the fastest-growing risks is technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TF-GBV), considered as any act committed or amplified through information communication technologies or digital means, which results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological, social, political or economic harm or violates rights and freedoms. A 2024 study by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security found that 66 percent of women had experienced TF-GBV, ranging from harassment and doxxing to AI-generated deepfakes, with one in five cases escalating to offline violence. Such digital abuse is weaponized to destabilize societies, erode trust in governments and silence women in leadership roles, including politicians and military officials.

Although many nations have introduced laws against online harassment and cyberbullying, enforcement remains a major challenge. Anonymity and cross-border jurisdictions complicate accountability, requiring stronger international cooperation and coordination among legal, policy and technology actors.

The gender digital divide also persists as a barrier to equality. Women and girls continue to have less access to digital tools, education and participation in technology-driven sectors. Within the military, these inequalities mirror broader social structures, resulting in fewer women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics roles, including AI research, software development and executive leadership. The lack of diversity in these fields limits perspectives in innovation, perpetuating blind spots that can sustain existing biases in emerging technologies.

Stronger together

Forging the path from foresight to warfighting requires designing and developing gender-responsive capabilities, digital tools and institutional practices across Allied forces. The idea of being stronger together must reflect a comprehensive 360-degree approach, bridging civil and military instruments of power and capabilities while empowering all segments of society. Strength and cohesion depend on ensuring that women’s voices, experiences and expertise are part of NATO’s transformation process.

NATO’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Policy and Action Plan already provides a framework for this integration. The policy embeds gender perspectives into NATO’s institutional structures, training, partnerships, communications and operations. It also calls on member and partner countries to implement the WPS agenda through national action plans, supporting interoperability across the Alliance’s three core tasks.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on WPS, a milestone that continues to shape NATO’s approach to operationalizing the agenda. Marking the anniversary, the RISE@NCIA event on Designing NATO Capabilities for Inclusive Security explored how NATO capabilities can be leveraged to strengthen gender perspective integration, enhance operational partnerships and expand education and training in line with NATO’s mandate to protect civilians and WPS commitments. Embedding gender awareness in digital innovation, operational planning and multi-domain capabilities is a modern extension of Resolution 1325’s pillars, ensuring that women’s participation, protection and leadership strengthen both NATO’s resilience and its strategic advantage.

Using gender perspective as an operational advantage Technological empowerment offers an opportunity to break down barriers and expand participation. Men and women have equal capacity to develop digital skills, and ensuring equitable access to technology and training across military and civilian sectors is fundamental to sustaining the Alliance’s technological edge. Innovation, when inclusive, strengthens national resilience, enhances deterrence and promotes societal stability.

The growing importance of the cyberspace domain underscores the need for gender-aware planning and operations. Women are increasingly targeted by cyber-attacks, yet traditional strategies often overlook how gendered disinformation, stereotypes and biases are used to undermine their credibility and professionalism. Competitors, threats and potential

adversaries can exploit these dynamics through cognitive warfare tactics, using disinformation, real or deepfake content and targeted narratives to influence perceptions, manipulate behaviour and erode cohesion.

Maintaining cognitive superiority requires NATO to understand how gender roles and biases are used as tools of influence. Recognizing these dynamics enables the Alliance to design more effective countermeasures, strengthen trust within its ranks and safeguard NATO’s credibility.

Recommendations for the Alliance NATO’s digital transformation must be guided by a gender responsive process in how to define, design, develop and deploy capabilities. Military and civilian organizations should ensure that all capabilities and technologies are gender-responsive, recognizing the distinct experiences, challenges and needs of women, men, boys and girls in the analysis, planning, implementation and budgeting across NATO missions, operations and activities.

Upholding gender equality as a reflection of NATO’s values and the WPS Policy as both a strategic and moral imperative will ensure gender mainstreaming remains a strategy across the Alliance’s activities.

Increasing women’s participation in digital and technology fields is vital to achieving this vision.

Balanced, cognitively diverse teams design and deliver better solutions. NATO should continue investing in initiatives such as Allied Command Transformation’s youth outreach programmes and the Science and Technology Organization’s (STO) Women and Girls in Science Challenge, which inspire the next generation of innovators and warfighters.

Gender-informed threat and trend analysis should become a standard part of NATO’s approach to foresight and planning. Establishing WPS benchmarks in AI and other emerging technologies can help identify gendered risks and ensure responsible innovation.

Finally, partnerships must be broadened across NATO entities such as NCIA and STO. Engaging industry, academia and gender experts across the innovation continuum will accelerate research translation into operational readiness and capability development.

Digital transformation presents NATO with an opportunity to reinforce its values while enhancing its strategic advantage. By embedding gender perspectives systematically in the Alliance’s digital evolution, NATO ensures that its innovation is not only technologically advanced but also inclusive, ethical and resilient. A gender-aware digital NATO is not just fairer – it is smarter, stronger and better prepared to meet the challenges of tomorrow’s multi-domain battlespace.

RISE@NCIA hosted a special event in The Hague, Netherlands, marking the 25th anniversary of the United Nations Security Council Resolution on Women, Peace and Security (PHOTO: NCIA)

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

Strategic defence

Digital resilience for modern national security and defence: rethinking defence infrastructure

Modern national security and defence organizations increasingly depend on digital infrastructure for command and control (C2) systems, intelligence networks and logistics platforms. Traditional approaches such as physical hardening, backup generators and fortified facilities no longer adequately protect the distributed, interconnected systems that underpin contemporary operations.

At AWS, we have built resilience into every layer of our cloud services, from physical infrastructure to operational practices. For NATO and its member countries, this multilayered approach provides a framework for evaluating digital infrastructure against 21st-century threats.

Eliminating single points of failure

Consider a C2 system coordinating joint operations. It processes intelligence from multiple theatres, manages communications across diverse platforms and maintains real-time situational awareness. In a conventional data centre model, a physical risk such as a kinetic strike,

power failure, fire or cooling system malfunction could disable the capability. Operational effectiveness would degrade immediately, not because of lack of training or equipment, but because the digital infrastructure underpinning military capabilities had failed.

AWS has architected its global infrastructure to eliminate physical vulnerabilities. Each AWS Region consists of at least three Availability Zones: independent data centre clusters separated geographically to avoid shared environmental risks. Although up to 100 km apart, the Availability Zones are connected by high-bandwidth Metro fibre for real-time data synchronization. Each Availability Zone receives power from separate electrical substations, ensuring failures cannot cascade between zones. If one zone is compromised, automated load balancers detect the impairment within seconds and route traffic to healthy zones.

Ukraine’s experience validates this approach. As Russia launched its unprovoked war of aggression, Ukrainian officials rapidly migrated critical government systems to distributed cloud architecture, protecting digital services from the physical destruction affecting their territory. Despite sustained attacks on Ukraine’s domestic physical data centre infrastructure, the government maintained essential services such as educational records for displaced students, land registries needed for reconstruction and core government operations. The cloud supported the resilience and integrity of Ukraine’s digital infrastructure.

AWS reinforces this architectural resilience through network design with over 9 million km of fibre-optic cable. Hundreds of diverse routes ensure no single cable cut can isolate an Availability Zone or a Region. The best practice for mission-critical applications is to deploy across all three Availability Zones in a Region, distributing the entire application stack. The AWS Elastic Load Balancing service constantly checks the health of the instances, sending traffic only to healthy Availability Zones. AWS’s nested model of Global, Region, Availability Zone, service subdivides and reduces the radius of any potential impact. This architectural foundation handles infrastructure resilience, so defence organizations can concentrate engineering effort on operational capabilities and mission outcomes.

Engineering for

continuous operation Architectural resilience provides the foundation, but maintaining national security and defence operations under stress requires engineering discipline at every system level.

At the data centre level, we have customized standard components vulnerable to single-point failures. Rather than using centralized battery banks, AWS distributes custom battery packs into every server rack. A UPS failure impacts only one rack, and failed units can be swapped out in seconds without powering down systems. These innovations contribute to facilities designed for 99.99997% uptime, or less than 9 milliseconds of downtime daily.

Yet infrastructure resilience cannot prevent failures from software deployments or configuration changes.

Head of National Security & Defence Europe, AWS Public Sector

Dimitri Avgoustakis

“The resilience of digital infrastructure directly determines national security and defence effectiveness”

AWS manages this through disciplined deployment practices: changes are introduced with a single server in one Availability Zone, deploy gradually across Availabiity Zones and Regions over at least two weeks, with automated rollback if monitoring detects any anomaly. When incidents occur, our correction of error process drives systematic analysis: how could we have detected the issue faster? How could we have reduced the mitigation time or impact radius? This creates a continuous improvement cycle where lessons from failures translate into concrete improvements in our monitoring, processes and tooling. These practices address risks that architecture alone cannot mitigate.

However, AWS uses techniques in its service design, and suggested architecture patterns, that build in resilience. For surge traffic that could overwhelm systems, AWS employs load shedding, strategically rejecting excess requests to keep the service running rather than letting the entire system collapse. For poison-pill scenarios where a single malformed request could cascade through systems, we use techniques such as shuffle sharding to mathematically separate compute instances and isolate the impact.

Prepare for failure

Digital resilience means being able to recover securely and quickly when failure happens. Three key principles guide our approach to digital resilience.

• Embrace failure as a natural occurrence. You can’t legislate

against failure, but you can focus on fast detection and response. Systems must handle component failures without collapse through automated recovery, not manual intervention. Being resilient means taking the human out of the loop. During crises, human response introduces delays and errors. Automated systems detect and respond faster, maintaining availability under adverse conditions.

• Test before it matters. Organizations must regularly practice failure scenarios to validate that both technical systems and organizational procedures work as designed. AWS Fault Injection Service generates disruptions in controlled environments, enabling you to test resilience without the stress of an actual crisis.

• Detect issues before your customers do. Systems will fail. When that happens, you need to be aware of it first. Comprehensive monitoring separates signal from noise through granular visibility into how each component performs, transforming operational data into actionable insights that enable fast detection and response.

For NATO and its member countries, digital resilience has become inseparable from national security and defence effectiveness. Distributed cloud architecture enables operational continuity that traditional data centre models cannot match.

As defence organizations plan digital transformation, resilience cannot be an

afterthought. It requires architectural choices that eliminate single points of failure, engineering innovations that maintain operation through disruption, and operational discipline that treats failure as inevitable. The question facing NATO members is not whether to modernize resilience strategies, but how quickly they can implement approaches equal to 21st-century threats.

In modern warfare, the resilience of digital infrastructure directly determines national security and defence effectiveness. Therefore, that infrastructure must maintain the same readiness and adaptability to safeguard those whose operational effectiveness and even lives depend on it. The alternative is strategic vulnerability in an era where digital capabilities increasingly define military advantage.

aws.amazon.com

THE FEDERATED COMBAT CLOUD

Mariana Antunes talks to Dennis Lefevere from NCIA’s Cloud Center of Excellence about the development of a federated combat cloud. She asks how it will become the digital engine for modern operations as well as how it enables secure collaboration and interoperability across national, NATO and commercial platforms

For readers who aren’t cloud experts, could you explain what a federated combat cloud is and how it differs from a single, centralized NATO cloud?

A federated combat cloud is a networked ecosystem of interconnected but sovereign cloud environments that share data, applications and AI-enabled services securely across NATO and national domains. Rather than creating a single, centralized NATO cloud, the federated model enables each member Nation to maintain its own cloud, while adhering to shared interoperability, data and security standards.

A simple analogy is a federated railway system: each country owns its own tracks and trains, but the system runs smoothly across borders because the rails, signals and communication standards are harmonized.

Could you offer a practical, real-world example of how a federated cloud would directly enable a commander to make faster, better decisions in a multi-domain operations scenario?

In a complex multi-domain operations environment, where air, land, sea, cyber and space operations intersect, commanders require real-time, trusted situational awareness. Through a federated combat cloud, data from multiple domains and member countries can be aggregated, analysed by artificial intelligence models, and visualized instantly, enabling a commander to act on a common operational picture rather than fragmented data.

For example, when an air sensor detects an incoming threat, the federated combat cloud immediately fuses

that data with naval radar feeds and distributes the combined picture to ground units. Commanders can then launch synchronized countermeasures within seconds.

What is the single biggest technical challenge in making these disparate cloud environments communicate and operate as a single, cohesive ecosystem?

Interoperability across diverse, multi-classification environments is the main technical challenge. Each Nation’s cloud uses its own architecture, interfaces and security model. To unify these, NCIA promotes common reference architectures, standardized application programming interfaces (APIs) and shared policy frameworks that enable data and services to move securely across boundaries. This approach turns separate systems into a cohesive digital ecosystem, enabling Allies to collaborate effectively without sacrificing control or sovereignty.

A key challenge for military operations is providing advanced digital capabilities to warfighters at the tactical edge. How does the combat cloud concept address this challenge?

Warfighters often operate where network connectivity is weak or contested. To address this, cloud capabilities and AI models are deployed at the tactical edge,

enabling systems to process and analyse data locally. These edge nodes retain supporting decisions and missions even when disconnected from the wider network. When connectivity returns, they automatically synchronize with the federated cloud. This cloud-to-edge architecture ensures that troops always have the latest data and tools they need, no matter the environment.

In a federated environment with multiple partners, how does NCIA ensure that critical data remains secure and is shared only with the right people at the right time?

NCIA applies a Zero Trust Architecture and policy-based data-sharing model to protect information across the federation. Every user, device and data object undergoes continuous verification, and access is granted dynamically based on role, mission and clearance level.

The Technology Strategy also stipulates the use of federated identity management, encryption and attribute-based access control to enforce these rules across all participating clouds. This framework ensures that the right people access the right data at the right moment without compromising national or operational security.

A Duty Control Officer works at the Enterprise Service Operations Centre in Mons, Belgium. Signals and communication standards are harmonized in the federated combat cloud (PHOTO: NCIA)

Beyond the technology, what is the biggest cultural or organizational shift that Allies and NATO need to make to fully embrace and capitalize on the potential of a federated combat cloud?

The biggest shift is cultural, not just technical. Allies must strengthen trust and information-sharing habits, moving from a ‘need-to-know’ mindset towards a ‘responsibility-to-share’ approach under clear policies and governance.

By committing to common standards and transparent data practices, Allies can build the trust and cooperation needed for a true digital federation. This shift transforms technology collaboration into a foundation of Allied cohesion, a principle as strategic as it is technical.

Looking ahead, what is your vision for the future of the combat cloud in the next 10 years?

What capability will it give the Alliance?

Over the next decade, the federated combat cloud will mature into an AI-enabled digital backbone that supports all NATO operations. It will enable systems across domains to exchange data seamlessly, predict logistical needs and coordinate responses automatically through machine-to-machine communication.

This evolution will give the Alliance a decisive digital advantage, enabling faster, smarter and more unified action in any environment. This vision is reflected in NCIA’s Technology Strategy, which frames the combat cloud not just as a technology initiative, but also as a digital expression of Allied cohesion.

An NCI Academy instructor trains students on the set up and operation of a deployable antenna. Common standards and transparent data practices enable Allies to build the foundations for a true digital federation (PHOTO: NCIA)

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

Unlock the true power of decision superiority with 5G

Digitalizing defence: 5G-powered collaboration for Multi-Domain Operations

Freddie Södergren

& Global Head of Mission Critical Networks and Defense, Ericsson

Europe is now closer to widespread war than it has been for the past 70 years. In fact, widespread ‘grey-zone’ attacks are already a daily occurrence – cyber-attacks, interference with undersea cables and incursions into neighbouring airspace. The character of warfare has fundamentally changed, therefore the deterrence and response to that threat must also fundamentally change.

One of the many lessons from the ongoing war in Ukraine is that commercial technology can be a force multiplier. It can generate combat mass at unmatchable speed and cost, while commercial connectivity delivers decision-making advantage by connecting sensors, deciders and effectors across all domains in real time.

Defence digitalization is essential

Wide-scale digitalization is no longer a long-term aspiration; it is a near-term necessity for survival. The benefits of digitalization in defence operations

are widely recognized. Whether that is increasing the efficiency of military logistics operations or realizing the concept of Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control (CJADC2) on the battlefield, digitalization at scale is critical to the survivability and effectiveness of future NATO operations.

To achieve that, a communication architecture needs to be built from multiple layers of inter-working technology including purpose-built tactical solutions, dual-use commercial technologies and non-terrestrial networks – creating a powerful network of networks that can seamlessly inter-operate across military echelons, operating domains and with allies.

5G capabilities and benefits for defence customers

5G is emerging as a transformative force for defence. The increasingly data-rich operational environment demands high-performance, secure connectivity at scale – that is exactly what 5G can deliver. 5G provides bandwidth over 200 times that of the most advanced military systems, ultra-low-latency perfect for precision control of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and the capacity to connect millions of devices per square mile. Lesser known features of 5G can also deliver massive benefits to defence users such as multilayered end-to-end encryption for handling sensitive data, radio beamforming for discrete communication with low probability of interception or detection (LPI/LPD) and network slicing for segmentation

and tailoring of the network for the unique demands of each mission.

5G enables rapid and seamless collaboration

5G technology is built on global 3GPP telecommunication standards, meaning that any device that is compliant with this open standard is compatible with any 5G network. Whether it is a ruggedized tablet running ATAK or an autonomous aircraft conducting a ground assault, integration of those devices onto the 5G network can be performed in minutes, at the tactical edge, not stuck for months in a lab. That seamless collaboration also extends across borders. 5G-enabled devices, platforms and people can interoperate effortlessly within NATO coalition forces, extending the reach of sensor-to-effector networks across thousands of miles.

Creating a resilient, hybrid network of networks

Each mission has a unique blend of communication demands including bandwidth, range and resilience to electronic warfare. Only through a combination of tactical systems, commercial systems and non-terrestrial networks will this be possible. The challenge will be ensuring these systems can inter-work seamlessly without putting additional burdens on the operator.

5G Core technology can bridge tactical systems into a unified IP transport layer, delivering true multi-domain integration and operation at scale.

VP

Ericsson’s deployable Ultra Compact Core (UCC) has been designed for ease of use and can act as a multibearer manager, selecting the best available transport technology based on quality-of-service demands and information criticality, easing the cognitive burden on operators by providing the tools to automate the PACE plan.

Venturing beyond terrestrial networks

Today, defence 5G systems can use non-terrestrial (space-based) networks (NTN) to provide backhaul for wide area or deployable network assets in remote locations. As NTN evolves, direct-to-device connectivity will extend high-performance coverage to these assets, providing uninterrupted service between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks to deliver military effect at any time, in any location around the world.

Never compromising on security

Ericsson-powered 5G networks are built on a Zero-Trust Architecture (ZTA), which secures micro-perimeters across the entire mobile network. Providing the ability to identify,

protect, detect, respond and recover from evolving attacks. ZTA plus the flexibility to use a combination of 128-bit, 256-bit and military-grade over the top encryption enables a diverse set of sensitive use cases.

With the evolution towards a datacentric security posture, which prioritises the protection of the data itself, even greater possibilities are unlocked. Some nations are already leveraging 5G to access networks classified at Secret and above.

Balancing shared and dedicated networks for defence needs

5G federated (shared) networks allow defence organizations to securely reuse existing civilian infrastructure, in tandem with their own dedicated networks. Defence operations require a strategic balance and Ericsson’s 5G platform supports both nationwide public networks with dedicated coverage and tactical private networks. This provides enhanced mission flexibility, security and contingent communications for mission-critical scenarios. This flexible approach empowers defence organizations to leverage the ubiquity of existing public

infrastructure, while maintaining robust connectivity tailored to their diverse operational needs.

Call to action

In digital native warfare your network cannot be considered as an afterthought, it should be considered the foundation upon which you can build your military capability. Seamlessly integrating traditional military power with commercial technologies into a unified digital ecosystem is no longer a concept; it’s a reality. European initiatives such as the Eastern Flank Watch and Air Defence Shield can be supercharged with scale and speed of 5G.

Don’t wait – discover how 5G can transform your operations and build a military force ready for the digital fight.

ericsson.com/en/industries/defense

ericssonfederaltechnologiesgroup. com/en

WEAVING THE DIGITAL BATTLEFIELD

NCIA Chief of Digital Innovation and Technology Luz Fernandez outlines the critical role of resilient, high-throughput networks in supporting the immense data demands of a modern defence enterprise

The modern operational environment is no longer just physical; it is a deeply interconnected digital domain. Today’s battlefield is increasingly shaped by information that drives advanced systems, enhances situational awareness, and support every element of command and control.

This digital transformation presents an extraordinary opportunity, but it also places an unprecedented demand on our communications and information infrastructure. To maintain our strategic advantage, we must deliver resilient, secure and highthroughput networks capable of managing this deluge of information.

As the Chief of Digital Innovation and Technology, my teams are focused on delivering this future. We lead NCIA’s work on Exploiting Data Science and AI (EDSAI), Space Technology Adoption and Resilience (STAR), next-generation networks and innovation in emerging disruptive technologies such as quantum while also addressing resilience through Technology Roadmaps and Obsolescence. We also drive the NCIA Technology Strategy, which sets our direction towards 2030.

Operating in this digital environment requires a new approach, defined by three imperatives: speed, coherence and resilience.

The imperatives of speed and coherence

The first imperative is speed. The current landscape demands that we move faster. We must accelerate our processes to move from concept to prototype to deployable capability at a pace that matches the technology itself. This means shorter delivery cycles, rapid iteration and faster pull-through of new technology – while continuing to manage and modernize existing systems to meet operational needs.

This speed, however, must be matched by coherence. We need consistent approaches across all services and capabilities as we adopt new technologies. Advancements in areas such as AI, space or networks cannot happen in isolation. They must reinforce one another, be fully interoperable and be built to scale.

These concepts are the driving force behind the NCIA Technology Strategy and its six core pillars: cloud, space, quantum, cyber space and cyber security, exploiting data and next-generation networks. They also underpin the NATO Digital Foundry, a new, NATO-wide concept we are developing to establish a dedicated innovation platform. The Foundry is being designed from the ground up to deliver both speed and coherence, accelerating innovation across the Alliance.

Resilience and renewal

The third imperative is resilience. We operate in a contested digital domain where adversaries are continuously challenging our systems in cyberspace, in space and across the infrastructure. Therefore, our systems must be inherently interoperable, redundant and able to fall back to alternative solutions when required. Resilience is not an add-on; it is a foundational design principle.

Innovation also means systematic renewal. It is not enough to simply add new technology; we must also strategically manage technological obsolescence.

Obsolescence Management Executive Guidance and Advisory (OMEGA) initiative, which we run in close partnership with the NCIA Chief Service Office, is an enterprise-wide effort to bring coordination and alignment to this challenge. OMEGA brings together stakeholders from across the NATO enterprise –including Allied Command Operations (ACO), Allied Command Transformation (ACT), the International Staff Cyber Digital Transformation Division (IS-CDT), International Staff NATO Office of Resources (IS-NOR), International Military Staff (IMS), Information and Communication Technology Management Office (ICTM NHQ). Technology roadmaps aligned to our Agency Technology Strategy are key to this, aligning our refresh cycles with the technology pillars and setting a clear path for innovation, and the OMEGA group is a catalyst for cultural change – helping teams across the enterprise understand the broader implications of data, or ageing technologies, and enabling a mindset where proactive planning through Technology Roadmaps and shared accountability become the norm.

Data, AI and the human element

No technology is rising faster or has more potential as an integrator than artificial intelligence. AI is an enabler for all other technologies and can be found across all domains. But AI cannot scale without coherent data management, reliable pipelines and a robust data architecture.

My team is engaged in major projects such as Maven and the Alliance data-sharing ecosystem, and supports NATO entities like the Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC) to ensure that AI advancements are grounded in solid data foundations. We are focused on coherent approaches that can support the rapid deployment of future use cases. This includes a resolute focus on ‘Responsible AI’, ensuring that future capabilities involving autonomous decision-making are designed ethically, transparently and with the appropriate human oversight. The Data Science & AI team, which will become the Data & Ai Center of Excellence as of 2026, is also bringing the power of AI in the cloud to NATO, through services such as chat.ai and IEA. Our AI solutions, from missile analysis to operational planning, are cloud-ready, supporting rapid innovation and operational efficiency.

Ultimately, technology alone is not enough. We can develop the most advanced capabilities, but if the war fighter cannot use them or does not trust them, they are not useful. People and skills are essential. We must upskill our digital workforce to understand how AI affects their mission and how to use these new capabilities effectively. The AI masterclasses we

NCIA’s Chief of Digital Innovation and Technology, Luz Fernandez (centre), is focused on the extraordinary opportunities presented by NATO’s digital transformation – and ensuring the Alliance’s strategic advantage is maintained (PHOTO: NCIA)

delivered across the enterprise this past year are just one example of how we are increasing AI literacy. The NCI Academy is a critical partner in this endeavour of upskilling.

This focus on people extends to our OMEGA initiative. Although its primary goal is managing obsolescence, it also serves as a vital forum for enabling adoption and driving a necessary change in mindset across the enterprise.

An integrated future and a unified picture

We cannot achieve this transformation alone. We must bring our partners in industry and academia closer, and earlier, in the development process. We began this with the broad consultation for the Technology Strategy, and we are continuing it through the design of the NATO Digital Foundry, an open and secure rapid adoption platform which will connect the innovation points across NATO, including NCIA and environments such as SANDI or the NATO software factory. The Foundry also aims to bring together innovation points across industry, academia and not-for-profits to enable speed and a connected innovation ecosystem.

Furthermore, awareness of the future landscape is essential. Activities such as Strategic Foresight Analysis (SFA), which my team supports, are critical. For technology areas such as quantum, we must not only explore future

use cases but also understand what the rest of the world is doing so we can be prepared.

Rapid innovation in the space sector—driven by both industry and government—is also unlocking new capabilities that fundamentally elevate multi-domain operations. Space-based ISR, Missile Warning, PNT, and secure satcom provide the resilient, real-time data architecture NATO needs for faster targeting, integrated C2, and a unified operational picture that outpaces any purely terrestrial system.

Finally, our key challenge is integrating these future innovations into the existing Communications and Information Systems (CIS) landscape. This requires close collaboration across NCIA with our Business Areas, Architecture and Engineering teams and our early engagement specialists. My directorate helps provide coherence from a subject-matter perspective through our technology pillars.

We are increasingly seeing the need for more structured, agile collaboration, including task force models like those used for Maven. The pace of change demands it. By working together, we can coordinate faster, establish cross-collaboration mechanisms and ensure we are weaving a digital battlefield that is intelligent, coherent and resilient for decades to come.

In her role, Luz Fernandez increasingly sees the pace of change demanding more structured, agile collaboration (PHOTO: NCIA)

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

NATO SECRET – from HQ to the tactical edge

The future of high-security IT is beyond the data-centre door

High‑security IT can no longer stop at the perimeter of secure headquarters. To remain operational in any situation, armed forces need trusted digital capabilities that reach into deployable environments, so that critical information remains protected and available wherever it is required – even at the tactical edge. The task is to extend high security systems and infrastructures beyond fixed sites without compromising secrecy or resilience.

Since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, NATO has been facing increasingly intense hybrid threats. German authorities warn of a further rise in state‑backed cyber attacks. Drones violate Allied airspace. Foreign intelligence activity has surged, and with it a renaissance of espionage. Across the Alliance, these developments are creating a growing need for secrecy and for safeguarding highly sensitive information.

The volume of highly classified data is growing accordingly. In preparation for potential escalation, more

information becomes strategically relevant and must be handled at NATO SECRET level. Meeting this demand cannot be confined to a single secure HQ. Systems, infrastructure and trained personnel must process classified data to strict requirements across distributed locations.

Extending NATO SECRET

As the volume of classified information increases and operations become more distributed, the task is not only to protect data but to connect it securely. Extending NATO SECRET capabilities from HQ to the tactical edge requires a new information culture. General Stanley A. McChrystal called this “smarter sharing”: moving from “Who needs to know?” to “Who doesn’t know yet and needs to?” NATO and its nations must combine the discipline of need to know with the agility of need to share always within classification boundaries. High security systems and networks therefore have to enable trusted, policy based information exchange across Allies and command levels, ensuring that critical insights reach those who must act, without ever compromising secrecy.

The required technological capabilities already exist. SINA, the Secure Inter‑Network Architecture, was developed by secunet, an IT security partner of the Federal Republic of Germany, on behalf of the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). Today, SINA forms an integrated ecosystem of applications, computers, network encryption and a cloud platform to build highly secure infrastructures for classified information over the

internet, with approvals up to NATO SECRET. Alongside high‑security desktop systems, SINA includes mobile platforms such as the SINA Workstation H R RW14, designed for harsh environments. With its robust, hardened and EMSEC approved (TEMPEST) hardware platform, it enables location‑independent access to classified data under adverse conditions.

Project Hermes

NATO’s Hermes project further illustrates this shift. In a joint initiative, CGI and secunet built a highly secure, scalable IT solution for military leaders and selected user groups. It enables mobile communications on specially protected laptops, namely SINA Workstations, giving NATO the flexibility to work at the highest security level regardless of location or time. For the first time, authorized personnel can access various NATO core network services from almost anywhere via encrypted connections from a single device such as the SINA Workstation H R RW14.

Collectively, these advances mark the transition from purely stationary security architectures to modular, deployable solutions. The direction is clear; the work is not finished. There is still technological ground to cover to deliver the same trusted connectivity and access to highly classified data at the edge that defence organizations rely on at the core.

SINA Cloud

Cloud based infrastructures are a key part of that journey. Modern military organizations increasingly rely on them to deliver scalable processing

Vice President Defence & Space, secunet Security Networks AG

Marcel Taubert

power, resilient services and rapid access to data, capabilities essential for AI assisted situational awareness, decision support and operational planning. Historically, the high secrecy requirements of NATO SECRET environments made cloud adoption difficult; that barrier has now been overcome. SINA Cloud provides the required security layer, applying strong cryptography and strict domain separation so that classified information can be processed securely across interconnected networks. In this way, cloud technology becomes the backbone of a trusted continuum, from data centres at HQ to forward deployed users at the tactical edge.

Yet cloud alone is not enough. The cloud is inherently centralized, with data centres serving as hubs. Many operational scenarios require decentralized processing consistent with an edge‑computing model, at distributed sites or directly in the field. This approach does more than reduce latency: it increases organizational responsiveness and, by distributing critical functions, strengthens the resilience of the overall infrastructure.

This calls for a coherent architecture that spans HQs and field operations, a continuum that preserves

classification boundaries and secure data access end to end. With SINA Cloud as the secure linkage, a SINA Continuum can unify the different parts of the infrastructure, integrating three complementary approaches and their strengths:

• Cloud: Fully equipped, high‑security data centres at HQ provide services with high bandwidth and powerful computing capabilities.

• Fog: At decentralized locations, compact workstation clients, such as the SINA Workstation H Client V desktop PC, operate alongside remote servers running the cloud stack.

• Edge: At the tactical edge or directly in the field, deployable, flexible container solutions serve as forward nodes, built around components such as SINA Communicator H or the SINA Workstation H R RW14.

Cloud-Fog-Edge

In effect, this creates a Cloud Fog Edge infrastructure that securely ingests classified data at the point of origin and delivers it where it is needed, without breaking trust chains or classification rules. In practice, that maximises freedom of action while maintaining highest security.

Across this continuum, a wide range of mission scenarios are supported. NATO SECRET classified communication and services such as voice and video can be maintained end to end. Dispersed sites such as NATO air bases gain unrestricted data availability. Teams can set up temporary data centres quickly using deployable SINA components. And because the building blocks are modular, they can be recombined at speed for different purposes as operational demands evolve.

The takeaway is straightforward: high‑security IT does not end at the data‑centre door. The future lies in comprehensive, scalable architectures that are deployable to the tactical edge, without diluting security.

A SINA Continuum aligned to this model enables the flexibility, responsiveness and resilience that modern defence operations require. secunet continues to support the German Armed Forces and NATO partners on this path.

secunet.com/en/industries/

EMPOWERING THE TACTICAL EDGE WITH THE CLOUD

NITECH Co-Editor Simon Michell explains how hyperscale cloud and edge computing empower NATO’s digital transformation, highlighting how scalable infrastructure enables rapid intelligence processing and secure communications in contested environments

NATO’s Digital Transformation Implementation Strategy, which Allies endorsed at the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, aims to enhance multi-domain operations (MDO), drive interoperability across all domains and strengthen situational awareness and political consultation. One year later at the Washington Summit in 2024, 22 Allied Nations signed a letter of intent to purchase the first Alliance-wide classified cloud capability: Allied software for Cloud and Edge (ACE).

The tactical edge, where forces operate in denied, degraded, intermittent and limited environments, presents unique operational challenges that demand the most sophisticated processing capabilities. These environments generate some of the most time-sensitive data requiring immediate analysis and action, yet reliable connectivity to traditional infrastructure is often lacking.

National security and defence organizations must process, analyse and act on vast volumes of operational data generated by sensors and systems. A single reconnaissance mission can produce terabytes of information, while thousands of distributed sensors continuously stream intelligence. Traditional processing architectures cannot scale to meet modern operational demands. Cloud infrastructure provides the foundation to manage this data challenge, from tactical edge to strategic headquarters.

A recent paper published by RUSI (Royal United Services Institute) in November 2025 describes how in Ukraine,

“cloud-based hosting of government registries and battlefield systems has ensured digital continuity despite sustained cyber and physical attacks”.

The report, European Cloud Adoption for National Security, describes the importance of enabling advanced national security and defence capabilities for the NATO Alliance: “For NATO and European allies, cloud adoption is not only a matter of digital modernization; it is also a question of strategic readiness. The ability to deploy interoperable, scalable and secure digital capabilities will shape the Alliance’s capacity to deter and respond to emerging threats.” Specifically, the paper points to Ukraine’s experience as underscoring “the operational impact of cloud-enabled systems, while also highlighting the importance of legal clarity, international cooperation and resilience planning.”

Ukraine’s Delta system, the RUSI paper states, has “demonstrated the value of accessing tactical-level, easily deployable and hardened high-bandwidth connectivity”. It adds: “Delta has succeeded in leveraging both large-scale remote public cloud and private cloud capabilities, which are closer to the battlefield.”

The paper notes risks associated with edge devices. Ukrainian forces captured Russian UAVs and other edge devices, including servers and were able to extract and analyse AI models. In addition, according to RUSI, existing options for NATO to deliver edge computing are constrained by challenges to scalability and elasticity.

Another perceived risk is lock-in to a single provider. In the case of Ukraine’s Delta, this was designed so that Delta engineers could move to any internet as a Service (IaaS) provider in an acceptable time frame. The trade-off can be reduced access to rapidly evolving capabilities.

Architecture for modern operations

Cloud infrastructure architected to support edge operations means local processing capabilities can synchronize with enterprise resources, at scale with resilience. This enables continuous operations, interoperability and integration across the targeting web, avoiding complete loss of capability when traditional, fixed infrastructures are compromised.

Charlie Llewellyn, a principal solutions architect for global national security and defence at Amazon Web Services (AWS), explains: “Each operation demands different capabilities: from processing vast amounts of sensor data and open-source intelligence (OSINT), through ensuring low-latency communications for engagement, to analysing mission effectiveness during assessment.” He adds, “Optimizing this process requires an architecture that can support these diverse needs while maintaining resilience in contested environments.

Cloud infrastructure uniquely enables this optimization through its ability to allocate resources dynamically where and when they’re needed most.”

Llewellyn explains that the solution lies in three interconnected but distinct networks, each optimized for specific functions:

• At the tactical edge, Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) enable units to share situational awareness and coordinate actions through an electromagnetic haze rather than distinct signatures;

• Tactical operations provide bearer-agnostic architecture for rapid sensor-to-effector links, enabling time-sensitive targeting across domains;

• The cloud supports command functions through a remotely accessible repository, enabling dispersed headquarters to share intelligence products and maintain operational oversight.

MANET implementation

MANETs enable tactical convergence through localized processing and data-sharing. Edge-deployed models process data locally and transmit only small, structured data packets across the network. This architecture ensures forces maintain tactical advantage through shared

A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter undergoes pre-flight checks in Aurora, Colorado. A single mission can produce more information than traditional processing infrastructure can handle, but cloud architectures can scale to meet modern operational demands (PHOTO: Sgt. Ashley Low, Colorado National Guard)

“National defence organizations now require the ability to process intelligence at the edge, maintain operations when disconnected and synchronize effectively when connected”

situational awareness while minimizing electromagnetic signatures. The network creates encrypted mesh communications with automated node authentication, supporting cached credentials for disconnected operations. Cloud-enabled edge computing provides the processing power needed for local AI/ML operations, ensuring forces maintain capability even when disconnected from central infrastructure.

Operations networks

Operations networks bridge tactical and strategic environments, combining multiple communication pathways to ensure reliable connectivity for missioncritical functions. Multi-bearer communications span satellite, terrestrial and tactical data links, with automated PACE planning and dynamic routing ensuring consistent connectivity. Real-time traffic prioritization and quality of service mechanisms support rapid data movement from sensor to effector. Cross-domain solutions optimize for operational tempo, while AI-enabled fusion cells maximize targeting speed and accuracy. Cloud infrastructure enables the rapid scaling needed to process sensor data and orchestrate effects across domains.

Strategic networks

Strategic networks enable comprehensive data exploitation through high-bandwidth networks and substantial computing resources. Global-scale infrastructure supports regional data sovereignty while enabling advanced analytics and machine-learning capabilities. Sophisticated data governance and cataloguing capabilities support automated security controls and compliance monitoring. Cross-domain sharing mechanisms enable effective partnership with allied forces, providing the foundation for modern operations. The elasticity of cloud computing ensures resources can be allocated dynamically to support changing mission priorities.

Building future success

According to industry experts, the transformation from traditional infrastructure to cloud-enabled operations envisaged at the NATO Vilnius Summit in 2023 has three elements. Thomas Gray, chair of the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG) Study Group 310 and a Senior Solutions Architect at AWS, explains. “First, evolve security policies from traditional binary controls to outcome-based frameworks that support risk-based assessment while maintaining protection of classified information. Second, implement standardized patterns for edge operations and reference architectures for each network type, supported by automated deployment pipelines and continuous monitoring. Third, develop the organizational capabilities needed to sustain innovation, from training programmes to governance frameworks.”

National defence organizations now require the ability to process intelligence at the edge, maintain operations when disconnected and synchronize effectively when connected. The ACE initiative recognizes that cloud capabilities provide the foundation for this transformation, as they enable forces to adapt quickly to emerging threats while maintaining information advantage across all domains.

The RUSI paper concludes: “Cloud computing is reshaping the strategic and operational foundations of national security… cloud technologies are enabling governments to meet mission requirements with greater speed, scale and resilience. Whether supporting battlefield awareness, cyber defence or the continuity of government services, cloud capabilities are increasingly central to having digital infrastructure that meets modern national security requirements.”

Enabling MDO through partnership

A new collaboration between Red Hat and Panasonic meets a fundamental requirement for NATO activities

What are the benefits for the defence sector of the Panasonic TOUGHBOOK Red Hat partnership?

Luca Santonico: Panasonic has a long-standing history of supporting organizations and armed forces involved in peacekeeping and military operations across regions facing insecurity and instability. In such contexts, communication links are frequently limited or, at times, only available through digital UHF radios. The collaboration with Red Hat enables us to introduce a unified command and control (C2) platform, optimizing device performance even when stable communications networks are lacking.

Can you describe how Red Hat Enterprise Linux® 10 (RHEL 10) delivers resilient operations and seamless interoperability?

Mustafa Musaji: Firstly, the framework is compliant with features such as SELinux, FIPS 140-2 and STIG, which ensures mission-critical systems can withstand cyber threats and maintain data integrity, even in the most hostile environments. RHEL is built on open standards, so it integrates seamlessly with existing and future defence systems. The user is not locked into a single vendor and has access to a unified platform that can stretch from the core network to the tactical edge. With our support for Strategic Core, Cloud, Deployed Edge and Tactical Edge scenarios, a TOUGHBOOK running RHEL can process data in a disconnected environment, then seamlessly integrate it with the broader network once connectivity is restored, thus

creating a unified, resilient fabric that keeps the entire force connected and in sync.

Why is Red Hat Enterprise Linux® a more effective platform than consumergrade operating systems, such as Android, for missioncritical military operations in the field?

Mustafa Musaji: Android has limited enterprise security, whereas RHEL is fortified with robust security enhancements, which provide mandatory access controls to prevent unauthorized access and protect against security breaches. RHEL is also designed to run on a number of different hardware architectures, meaning it can run on core data centres, cloud or at the edge. Thus, it provides real application, security and compliance portability wherever it is needed.

RHEL is also built for interoperability and modularity, relying on open standards that allow it to integrate seamlessly with complex defence systems, including with older applications in a virtualized environment. A consumer-grade OS, by contrast, is a more closed, app-based ecosystem with limited compatibility with military IT.

What types of military applications will benefit from the Red Hat/ TOUGHBOOK offering?

Mustafa Musaji: Everything from drone control systems to applications that analyse data in the field using machine learning. The foundation we provide is perfect for in-vehicle solutions, where the TOUGHBOOK 40

MOD and Partner Account Manager, Panasonic Connect

Principal Solutions Architect, Red Hat

Luca Santonico

Mustafa Musaji

series can use Red Hat to handle secure workload isolation and high-performance computing for mobile tactical operations. Think of it as a rolling command centre. At the squad level, the TOUGHBOOK G2 can leverage our platform for secure boot, enterprise-grade encryption and real-time application updates, which is essential for tactical coordination and reliable communication in remote environments. And in more centralized command and control centres, the TOUGHBOOK 33 can handle secure data management and application support for real-time situational awareness.

How does the Red Hat certification overcome the evolving challenges facing NATO?

Mustafa Musaji: NATO needs to be able to trust its software supply chain implicitly. The Red Hat certification ensures that our software is transparent and auditable, which is crucial for high-security environments. This helps mitigate the risks of evolving cyber threats and ensures the integrity of mission-critical systems.

The certification also validates the use of our hardened security features such as SELinux. Plus, our commitment to open standards and the flexibility of our platform ensures that we can integrate seamlessly across different defence systems, creating a unified digital fabric. The Red Hat certification, combined with our open-source model, allows for a more agile, modern approach to software development and deployment. This means NATO can quickly and securely deploy new capabilities to the field.

How will this enhance NATO operations and to what extent will it enable MDO?

Luca Santonico: The collaboration between Red Hat and Panasonic enables full interoperability of systems between the various military forces deployed in the most complex theatres. This meets a fundamental requirement for NATO activities. It is also worth noting that, with the continuous expansion of NATO, interoperability between the digital systems deployed must also include interconnection between the various forces of all the existing and new

member countries. Being able to operate with a single platform allows, in part and will increasingly allow, not only the integration in terms of communication between the different forces present in the field but also an ever-wider connection between C2 solutions. It is this collaborative integration that will support the full development of MDO.

Mustafa Musaji: The Red Hat/ TOUGHBOOK partnership integrates capabilities across all domains –air, land, sea, space and cyber, thus enabling NATO’s vision for multi-domain operations (MDO) by delivering the required digital backbone. The unified platform we provide, from the data centre to the tactical edge, allows for seamless C2 and data sharing across domains.

By putting powerful, secure and resilient computing right into the hands of those who need it, we enable them to collect, process and act on data in real-time, even in disconnected environments. This enhances situational awareness and allows for faster, more informed decision-making across the entire force. It empowers people with the tools they need to succeed in a complex, multi-domain environment.

eu.connect.panasonic.com/gb/ en/toughbook-defence-solutions/ toughbook-and-red-hat

THE MULTIORBIT ADVANTAGE

Nicholas Boosey talks to Head of NCIA SATCOM Technologies Pinar Yasar Orten to find out how a hybrid network of satellites across different orbits will deliver the resilient, high-bandwidth connectivity required for the Alliance to dominate in a multi-domain operations environment

As the Alliance deepens its capability to operate cohesively across air, land, sea, cyber and space, resilient and flexible connectivity has become a critical force enabler.

Ensuring Allied communications infrastructure can withstand disruption, counter evolving threats and meet escalating operational demands is a core priority for NCIA. One of the most promising advances to support this effort is multi-orbit satellite communications (SATCOM) , a n increasingly prominent concept that can reshape how the Alliance connects across domains.

Multi-orbit SATCOM is the effort to combine satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO), medium-Earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary orbit (GEO) into a single, unified communications network. “Instead of relying on one type of satellite, this approach would link different orbits through the development and deployment of multi-orbit-

capable ground terminals,” says Pinar Yasar Orten, Head of SATCOM Technologies at NCIA. “This promises to maximize the utility of each layer while minimizing the system’s vulnerability to dependencies or restrictions.”

Each orbit offers an advantage. Satellites in GEO, positioned some 36,000 kilometres above Earth, offer broad, stable coverage suited to strategic communications or intelligence gathering. Meanwhile, MEO satellites provide moderate latency with regional coverage, and at just a few hundred kilometres above the Earth, LEO constellations deliver high-speed, low-latency data transfer.

Empowering NATO warfighters for MDO

From the perspective of the operator on the ground, at sea or in the air, the multi-orbit advantage is clear: unbroken communication in any environment, even when navigating contested or degraded theatres of operation. Combining satellites in these different orbits into a unified

service would enable traffic to be rerouted through another orbit in real time. “The result is a communications infrastructure that is faster and drastically more resilient,” Pinar explains. “Fundamentally, multi-orbit SATCOM will minimize the risk that Alliance forces ever find themselves isolated in the field, be it by hostile interference or congested networks.”

Yet the flexibility of multi-orbit SATCOM also empowers decision-makers with greater agility, because dataintensive applications such as live intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) video feeds can continue to flow across the most appropriate orbit, matched to its required bandwidth and latency.

“In a time where air, land, sea, space and cyber assets must act in concert, the speed of information exchange translates directly into an operational advantage,” says Pinar. “Multi-orbit SATCOM will secure that decisionmaking superiority for the Alliance’s future.”

In theatres where mission success is dependent on critical time-sensitive data, LEO networks offer the low latency necessary when transmitting targeting data from a sensor to an effector in the field, while the wide and persistent connectivity of GEO satellites provides the wide-area coverage crucial for sustaining the Alliance’s command networks at the global level.

Together, this dynamic infrastructure will deliver the two defining requirements of MDO: speed and resilience. By allowing data to be routed and optimized in real time, multi-orbit SATCOM enables decisionmaking in real time, maintaining the connective tissue of NATO’s digital battlespace.

Overcoming the challenges of integration

Bringing multiple constellations and orbits into a single, seamless network raises a raft of technical and organizational challenges, the principal one being network management and control.

Since satellites in orbit are optimized for specific applications, the system must determine automatically which constellation or specific satellite is best suited to each task, based on the applications for which it is optimized. This requires intelligent network management and control systems capable of automatically routing traffic between constellations and orbits, based on the application being used, its bandwidth and latency requirements, as well as real-time assessments of network congestion, priority and environmental conditions. “Optimizing this routing between orbits is the key to achieving the breakthrough in speed and reliability of a truly integrated Alliance capability,” Pinar notes.

NCIA: bridging the gap from innovation to implementation

Within NATO, NCIA’s Chief Technology Office Digital Innovation and Technology (CTO-DIT) team is leading efforts to advance multi-orbit SATCOM as part of a wider digital transformation. NCIA is uniquely positioned at the intersection of innovation, collaboration and capability development.

Through experimentation and close engagement with industry partners, the NCIA CTO drives collaborative proofs of concept that explore emerging technologies, validate their operational potential and identify viable pathways to transition these innovations into tangible capabilities for the Alliance. “Our collaborative approach

Potential optimal use of orbits for different mission needs

enables us to ensure NATO remains at the forefront of technological advancement by fostering an environment where cutting-edge ideas can be tested and refined,” adds Pinar. “That accelerates the delivery of new capabilities that can address operational challenges.”

Additionally, NCIA also serves as a trusted source of expertise on demand for NATO and member countries. This could mean providing technical advice, supporting multinational projects aligned with the Alliance’s objectives or assisting in the development and integration of new concepts.

Leveraging commercial innovation securely Commercial constellations in the last decade are transforming space communications, offering unprecedented bandwidth and global reach. NATO recognizes the value of such commercial LEO constellations and is actively exploring how to integrate commercial capacity into its communications

“ Resilient and flexible connectivity has become a critical force enabler”

architecture. By collaborating with commercial partners, the Alliance can expand coverage, increase flexibility and scale capabilities rapidly when operational needs surge.

“Simultaneously, we remain acutely aware of the security considerations inherent in using commercial systems,” Pinar emphasizes. “To mitigate these risks, NATO prioritizes resilient infrastructure, robust encryption, secure communication protocols and vigilant monitoring of its communication channels.” Contingency measures ensure that even if commercial links are compromised, critical command networks will remain protected from disruptions.

Looking ahead to 2030

Through a multinational effort, NATO aims to field a mature multi-orbit SATCOM capability that will provide commanders with connectivity far beyond what is available today. For NATO commanders, integrating LEO, MEO and GEO assets in a multilayered network will deliver seamless, resilient and secure redundant communications anywhere on the globe, with dramatically reduced latency. This ensures enhanced redundancy and mission continuity, even in contested or degraded environments.

“Dynamic bandwidth management will enable the system to prioritize mission-critical data and intelligently allocate resources across orbits, supporting demanding ISR and command and control operations while providing the network agility required for real-time decision-making,” Pinar concludes. “That is foundational for coherent MDO operations, sustained at the tempo required for the NATO Alliance to contest and dominate the battlespaces of tomorrow.”

British and Spanish troops check satellite communications dishes during an exercise in Romania. The advantage of multi-orbit SATCOM is unbroken communication in any environment (PHOTO: NATO)

Unlocking multi-domain operations through a data-centric digital transformation

There are parallels between the Janes digital transformation and NATO’s Data Strategy for the Alliance, and lessons to share

Peter Partridge

Director, Product Strategy (Solutions), Janes

How did Janes successfully complete its digital transformation and why was it necessary?

Janes began as a traditional book publisher with uniquely valuable data siloed in individual publications such as: Fighting Ships, All the World’s Aircraft and Janes Defence Weekly However, we knew adopting a digital, data-centric approach would not only improve our internal analytical strength and data accuracy, but also help our customers quickly access and connect data across all domains based on their operational needs. Equally important, this approach enables customers to integrate Janes data with that in their own systems and platforms and securely share it with Allies as needed.

Our guiding principles were that we should be use-case agnostic, abstract and extensible. Focusing on interoperability, embracing innovation and embedding clarity, rules and clear definitions to standardize datasets that span nations, domains and classification levels were paramount to this transformation.

What structural and organizational changes were required to ensure success?

The journey was far more than a technology challenge – it reshaped our organization. Our experts who once focused on a single domain and could adopt their own data standards and definitions now needed to move to a model where data governance was handled

centrally. Analysts gained access to a new, single platform for connecting, comparing and analysing data across multiple domains, sparking further innovation and new capabilities. Every corner of the business evolved – roles, structures and processes.

It was not an easy journey, but throughout strong leadership kept the vision clear and the benefits front and centre.

How did you balance the need to remain operationally viable while undergoing such a complex process?

Due to the critical nature of Janes data for our customers it was essential to guarantee our normal output at all times. Therefore, we approached the project holistically, ensuring we were able to implement requirements with minimal disruption to existing business activities. This enabled us to use the data being generated and managed by existing experts, analysts and editors for our traditional data use cases while we were migrating to the new system.

It soon became apparent that the data-centric capability being incrementally developed was creating a radically new set of use cases and customers. A good example of this is the impact it had on our news service.

With the new data-centric methodology we started linking everything mentioned in a news story to the other existing and relevant data sets. So, if the feature mentions an F-16, we link that to its

weapon systems, its sensors, its powerplant, its operating units, its manufacturer and so on. This means you now have a lot more knowledge about the potential impact of that news story, if you then embed that F-16 into a common operational picture you can improve situational awareness and decision advantage.

How did the linked data model Janes perfected enhance data centricity and what opportunities does it offer?

Under the legacy data-management model, the same piece of information may appear multiple times in different formats across the database. Under the new model, each data point is held only once and serves as a foundation for linking related relationships and geospatial details. This eliminates duplicate descriptions and adds significant operational flexibility.

In addition, our analysts can now use artificial intelligence to accelerate validation and enrich aspects of their analysis. For example, during the hectic evacuation of Afghanistan in 2021, when a major landing strip became blocked, Janes digital data quickly found an alternative airstrip and flagged that only smaller tactical airlifters could use it.

What lessons has Janes learnt on this journey and how are they applicable to organizations such as NATO?

NATO’s Data Strategy for the Alliance (DaSA) may be larger, but the concept

is very similar and there are many lessons we can share. For example, we quickly learned that there is rarely one correct answer to many of the challenges and success starts with strong data hygiene, governance and consistency. Without doubt, accurate, reliable, standardized data brings enhanced operational capability across all the domains.

Another important aspect is that automation does not replace analysts but empowers them. This was not what people were expecting and underlined the need to demonstrate the benefits of the transformation to those who were apprehensive about it. Another key lesson was that you can no longer ignore the gaps in your information however onerous the task of filling them may be.

How can Janes support NATO’s own digital transformation?

Although Janes has undergone a digital transformation, I would say the journey never ends. We will continue to innovate and improve the data, the model and the processes. We learned a lot along the way, and it is those lessons that we can share with NATO. Moreover, we can help NATO implement the required data governance and data management protocols to complete its NATO 2030 Data Target and share our insights into potential organizational changes to help drive it.

Perhaps more importantly, Janes can help NATO accelerate its data standards adoption to assist with the

elimination of inconsistent data or, even worse, bad data. We can also provide expertise in making opensource data interoperable and aligned with NATO standards, leveraging proven technologies and use cases. Last, we can simplify data-sharing across the Alliance for seamless and effective collaboration. janes.com

AI-READY MILITARY NETWORKS

Matt Swinden, Managing Director, Strategy and Product at BT International, outlines why AI-ready networks are essential for commanders, and how they can help your AI outsmart adversaries and deliver digital superiority

AI is rapidly transforming military operations and defence organizations are leading the way in real-world deployment. From supporting commanders with predictive analytics to automating video footage analysis and targeting, military AI use cases in conflicts such as Ukraine are setting the benchmark for other industries to follow.

The ability of military AI to deliver timely, accurate and actionable insights depends on accessing the right data at the right time. As AI use cases expand beyond specific applications to widespread adoption across military operations, the demands they place on the network will grow. So, what does an AI-ready military network look like?

AI needs data and networks deliver it Network coverage is a key attribute of a military AI-ready network. Modern militaries are generating vast amounts of real-time data across every domain from sensors, drones, satellites and field units, as well as command sites and the wider organizational digital ecosystem. This data is often dispersed across air, land, sea and space. Military AI systems thrive on the availability of this real-time data, so the ability

to connect is vital. Equally, connectivity must be available for people, devices and machines to receive AI-generated insight or instructions.

If AI-based systems are to be depended upon, they need an uninterrupted flow of data. So, an AI-ready network must also be resilient. That means having management systems such as AIOps platforms that provide end-to-end visibility into performance and health across every component of the network, along with predictive analytics to detect and automatically remediate faults before they develop. Another key point to consider is hardware. Wherever possible, networks running on legacy hardware should not be relied upon, because performance, efficiency and reliability degrade as equipment reaches end-of-life.

The culture and trustworthiness of network service providers should be considered, too. Long-established telecommunication companies (telcos) such as BT excel here, as they have unrivalled experience in designing and operating networks that are their country’s – and other countries’ – critical national infrastructure. They engineer for security and reliability, including disaster recovery.

Telcos also build at scale. Scale is important to AI resilience because it offers a choice of routes for data to take. Militaries should support their AI with telco networks that offer scale, along with dense connectivity in key locations, to provide alternative routes should a link or links be severed.

Flexibility is critical. There are periods of intense activity during conflicts, as well as periods of relative quiet. AI-ready networks must be scalable in an instant to handle sharp variations in bandwidth demand when activity intensifies. They should also offer the ability to flex back down during quieter periods to conserve resources.

An AI-ready network must be secure. An AI system is only as good as the data it receives. If that data is compromised, its output cannot be trusted. Networks should be secure by design and offer integration with the best security solutions to enable militaries to add extra layers of protection to suit the risk profile of the workloads being carried. They should be built around principles such as zero trust so only the right people, systems and devices have access to the right data.

An AI-ready network should offer visibility and control to empower IT teams to choose the best paths for their workloads and data. With this, a military’s IT team can not only choose the routes offering the best balance of performance and cost, but they can also ‘geofence’ their traffic to ensure it avoids links that are physically located or controlled by network providers in hostile territories.

Innovating to secure advantage

AI-ready networks must enable rapid innovation. Conflict accelerates technological advancement as adversaries compete for supremacy, just as we’re

witnessing in Ukraine. Tools such as APIs can enable a military to integrate connectivity with new digital solutions making it easier to innovate with partners and accelerate time to deployment for new technologies.

Since AI and other digital applications are typically cloud-hosted, militaries can benefit from modern Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platforms that offer pre-integrated connectivity to global hyperscaler locations – the major cloud datacentres of AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. This eliminates delays caused by the slow provisioning times of legacy networks, helping to further accelerate innovation.

AI, and other applications, often consist of multiple workloads distributed across various hyperscaler clouds and private military datacentres, where the most sensitive data is stored. In this hybrid cloud environment, seamless multi-cloud interconnectivity is essential. AI performance depends on the strength of the network linking all components and data sources. This means an AI-ready network must be engineered for multi-cloud connectivity and give IT teams visibility and control over workload paths, along with dynamic routing to optimize latency and bandwidth.

Giving your AI more time to think At school, we learn one of the most basic equations in science: speed equals distance divided by time. Low-latency networks can reduce data transit times, which can improve the accuracy of an AI tool. Many AI tools use iterative training, repeatedly running calculations and using machine learning to fine-tune results. By taking steps such as moving the AI system closer to where the operational need is or using high-performance, low-latency networks, militaries can give their AI more ‘thinking’ time, improving precision and responsiveness in mission-critical scenarios.

“AI-ready networks must be scalable in an instant to handle sharp variations in bandwidth demand when activity intensifies”

Sovereignty is a must

NATO is an Alliance of 32 nations, with each national military setup using their own private and secure IT ecosystems operating within national or regional regulatory jurisdictions. These digital silos or ‘walled gardens’ contain critical operational data, host enterprise and operational applications, including AI, and enable communication and collaboration services used by personnel. To operate effectively, NATO requires a network trusted by Alliance members to make sure only the right data and applications can be accessed by the right people from the right places. Moreover, that network needs to be able to weave together workloads from each of those walled gardens without friction and without risking the security of any of that data, no matter who it belongs to.

The need for speed AI is only as powerful as the network that supports it. In defence, where speed, precision and security are paramount, high-performance, low-latency AI-ready networks are not just enablers – they are force multipliers. Yet, in many digital transformation initiatives, connectivity remains an afterthought, even though it determines whether AI can function at mission speed. By investing in flexible, AI-ready networks, militaries can unlock smarter, faster and more decisive outcomes, gaining digital superiority over adversaries.

In the AI-battlespace the side that thinks faster moves faster. The side that moves faster wins.

By investing in flexible, AI-ready networks, militaries can unlock smarter, faster and more decisive outcomes (PHOTO: BT)

What is an AI factory?

Meeting the unique expectations of defence customers at the scale required

We have seen so many definitions of what an AI factory is based on different contexts. In defence terms, what is an AI factory and how is it different from a standard data centre or cloud?

An AI factory is an industrialized environment that produces AI applications and insights as its ‘output’, at the scale large organizations require – often hundreds to thousands of GPUs –with a cloud-like operating model on-premises. It is built around four tightly integrated layers: the AI infrastructure (compute, storage, networking, power and cooling), the operating layer (OS, hypervisor and containers), the control plane (multi-tenant management, RBAC, metering, orchestration and observability) and the AI workload layer (frameworks, runtimes and apps). That end-to-end focus on throughput, security, life-cycle operations and governance is what differentiates it from a generic data centre.

Defence customers also have unique expectations: accreditation-ready patterns, strict data residency and in-country operations, the ability to operate in disconnected or air-gapped modes, rapid time-tovalue and – critically in Europe –architectures that preserve independence from any single vendor or black-box service. HPE’s portfolio explicitly calls out “independence from others” and supports sovereign variants that can be delivered with air or direct liquid cooling to match site constraints.

Which controls make an AI factory ‘sovereign’ in practice?

We frame sovereignty across data, operations and technology. Data sovereignty means control over where data resides and how it is accessed and transmitted; operational sovereignty covers who runs and audits the environment – ideally cleared, in-country personnel – and the ability to function if connectivity is cut; technical sovereignty requires transparent, dependency-controlled stacks and hard multi-tenant boundaries enforced by the control plane. For EU defence customers, sovereignty also extends to talent, software and models – the capacity to develop and operate with domestic skills, open/portable tooling and models under national control, rather than turnkey exclusivity.

HPE enables these controls with options for air-gapped/disconnected management, role-based access, service catalogues, quota/metering and policy automation across a shared GPU fabric – delivering the

‘cloud experience’ without internet exposure. In practice, that combination provides the compliance posture, auditability and strategic flexibility defence organizations expect.

How do you deploy an AI factory inside complex, controlled environments – step by step?

We use a tiered approach that aligns with accreditation workflows and existing estates. Tier 1 establishes secure GPU-as-a-Service (bare-metal or virtualized) to stand-up tenants and Day-2 operations. Tier 2 adds Slurm and managed Kubernetes for container orchestration. Tier 3 introduces full multi-tenant management with self-service catalogues and end-to-end automation. Tier 4 layers the AI software platform – MLOps/DataOps/ AIOps – and value-added services such as LLM gateways, RAG-as-aService and token services, mapped to the security domains and data life cycles in scope. At each tier, the control plane handles RBAC, metering, observability and policy enforcement to maintain hard boundaries across tenants.

For defence ministries with brownfield constraints, we integrate with existing identity, networking, storage and monitoring; for greenfield, we accelerate with reference patterns and repeatable deployment artefacts. Throughout, governance gates are embedded – covering data protection, export controls, model risk management and safety oversight –so capability ramps from ‘foundational’ to ‘at scale’ without rework.

Chief Technologist & Principal Data Scientist, HPC & AI, HPE

Iveta Lohovska

With tight power and cooling limits on bases, what design choices matter most for AI at scale?

Three decisions make the biggest difference. First, advanced liquid cooling: rear-door heat exchangers (RDHX) and Adaptive Rack Cooling (ARCS) can raise per-rack capacity significantly; moving to ~70% direct liquid cooling (DLC) – and where feasible, fanless 100% DLC – supports dense training while improving TCO (total cost of ownership). Second, a flexible systems portfolio – with both air- and liquid-cooled options – lets you match site envelopes without losing roadmap headroom as models grow. Third, aligning the control plane’s scheduling and metering to power envelopes ensures every watt is productive during training bursts and that inference is served efficiently. Together, these levers enable high-density training and high-volume inference while meeting sustainability targets.

Can you share a recent defence example that works like an AI factory and the key lessons learned?

A flagship example is France’s classified, fully air-gapped AI supercomputer for the Ministry of the Armed Forces, delivered with Orange Business. Located at Mont-Valérien (Suresnes, Paris), the system is completely isolated from the internet, operated exclusively by French nationals with security clearance, and designed to handle sensitive data and model training for defence and intelligence use –including secure conversational agents for operators.

The key lessons for Allies are consistent: treat sovereignty as a design principle (in-country operation, auditability and disconnected control), invest early in the control plane for multi-tenant governance and Day-2 ops, and rely on a strong local partner network to

meet regulatory, staffing and supply-chain requirements at speed. That combination is what turns a high-performance cluster into a true, defence-grade AI factory.

hpe.com/emea_europe/en/ what-is/ai-factory.html

RESILIENT SUPPLY CHAIN FOR MULTI-DOMAIN OPERATIONS

NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA)

General Manager Stacy Cummings highlights how the NSPA is strategically prepositioning stockpiles and securing supply chains to ensure continuous sustainment across all domains, ensuring that forces can respond rapidly and effectively to complex, multi-domain threats

In today’s strategic environment, NATO and its Allies face a security landscape unlike any we have seen in generations. War has returned to the European continent. Global supply chains remain vulnerable to shocks. Emerging and disruptive technologies are reshaping the character of warfare. At the same time, climate change and geopolitical competition are compounding instability.

Against this backdrop, NATO must ensure that its forces are not only well-equipped but also able to deploy, sustain and adapt across multiple domains (air, land, sea, cyber and space) at speed. This is the essence of a multi-domain future: the ability to deliver coordinated effects in complex theatres, with supply chains and sustainment systems that can withstand disruption.

At the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), our role is to make this vision a reality. We act as the bridge between Allied Nations’ requirements and industrial capabilities, enabling multinational procurement, sustainment and logistics. We deliver capabilities at scale, on time and at fair and reasonable costs, while ensuring the resilience of the supply chains that underpin them.

Europe’s security urgency

The urgency could not be clearer. For decades, Europe relied on the assumption of stable security guarantees and globalized supply chains. That world has changed. We are now in an era of strategic competition in which supply chains are contested, resources are finite and timelines are compressed.

In this context, efficiency, interoperability, commonality and resilience are no longer optional; they are indispensable. Europe must strengthen its own industrial and sustainment base. But it must do so wisely, avoiding duplication while also reducing dependence on any single point of failure. This requires a balanced approach that leverages both specialization and competition.

Specialization and competition: complementary, not contradictory

There is sometimes a tendency to present specialization and competition as opposing concepts. In reality, they are complementary. Specialization enables us to concentrate production where it makes sense, building economies of scale and avoiding waste. Competition, on the other hand, ensures that innovation, efficiency and resilience remain at the heart of the system.

Consider the case of munitions. Europe has historically depended on a small number of producers for critical components such as material for explosives. Here, specialization makes sense: concentrating production can reduce costs and increase output.

But specialization without competition creates fragility. A single plant closing, or one supply chain disruption, can paralyse an entire production line. This is where competition must complement specialization. By fostering at least two suppliers, or opening opportunities to transatlantic industrial partnerships, we introduce redundancy, reduce risk and strengthen resilience.

This approach is not theoretical. Through the Ammunition Support Partnership, NSPA aggregated demand for more than €5 billion in contracts. NATO suppliers benefited from large, predictable orders. At the same time, competition among multiple firms ensured that no single supplier dominated, avoiding monopoly pricing and accelerating delivery schedules. This is how specialization and competition can work together to deliver both efficiency and resilience.

Overcoming fragmentation

Europe has long suffered from fragmented defence procurement, with multiple national programmes and divergent requirements. Nations may find themselves competing against each other for limited industrial capacity while industry lacks the long-term demand signal to invest in new capacity. The result is inefficiency, duplication and lost opportunities for industry and governments alike.

The solution is not to abandon competition, but to aggregate demand. Multinational frameworks such as NSPA Support Partnerships, Organisation for Joint

Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) and EU initiatives enable Allies to consolidate requirements, enabling industry to compete at scale under common conditions.

The PATRIOT Support Partnership illustrates this principle in practice. By consolidating the needs of multiple Allies, NSPA has delivered cost savings, accelerated delivery schedules, synchronized upgrades and even fostered new European supply sources. This framework recently marked its 40th anniversary, a testament to the enduring value of cooperative procurement. In fact, it is now bringing new production capacity into Europe, strengthening both NATO and the transatlantic defence base.

The value of competition in defence procurement Competition, when executed correctly, is the engine of innovation, efficiency and resilience.

Competition works. It is how we ensure that industry continuously brings forward its best technologies, that costs are kept under control and that we do not become over-reliant on any single geography or supplier.

Through our multinational procurement frameworks, NSPA regularly delivers hundreds of millions of euros in savings to Allies. These frameworks also expand opportunities for multiple European suppliers, reinforcing industrial resilience. In this way, competition directly supports the ability of our forces to operate across multiple domains, by ensuring the steady flow of affordable, innovative and reliable capabilities.

Coordinating across the Atlantic Multi-domain operations (MDO) represent a key turning point in NATO’s approach. At its core, this requires orchestrating military activities across all operating domains and environments. Therefore, forging a

The Path Forward

So how do we achieve efficiency, innovation and resilience in defence procurement and sustainment?

The path forward is clear:

• Aggregate demand through multinational frameworks such as NSPA Support Partnerships;

• Guarantee open and competitive tendering to drive innovation and cost savings;

• Encourage specialization where it creates real efficiencies, but always combine it with competition to ensure redundancy;

• Invest in industrial resilience, including critical raw materials, dual-use technologies and surge production capacity;

• Strengthen transatlantic coordination, ensuring that European and American initiatives are mutually reinforcing.

By pursuing this balanced approach, we will deliver the capabilities our forces need, on time, at scale and across all domains.

multi-domain future requires strong transatlantic coordination. NATO and EU initiatives will be most effective when they reinforce rather than duplicate one another, creating an integrated ecosystem where competition is open, fair and transatlantic.

Hybrid industrial models, such as the COMLOG joint venture between MBDA and Raytheon, demonstrate how this can work. By combining European and American expertise, these partnerships maximize the benefit of cooperation, delivering capabilities that benefit both sides of the Atlantic.

This model is crucial for sustaining transatlantic security in an era of contested logistics. By investing together, and by keeping competition open and fair, we can ensure that Allied forces have the tools they need to fight and win in all domains.

A prime example of capability both requiring and supporting MDO is the Alliance Future Surveillance and Control (AFSC) programme. This will define a new generation of surveillance and control capabilities after the retirement of NATO’s Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) fleet beyond 2035.

Through this programme, NSPA is evaluating new technologies and exploring a system-of-systems approach, including potential combinations of air, ground, maritime and space systems working together to collect and share information. Under the governance of all NATO Nations, the new capabilities are expected to fulfill military requirements covering surveillance and tactical control in all domains and in a wide range of operational scenarios.

In a multi-domain future, the initial contract award represents the first step towards an accelerated lifecycle management. Sustainment is equally vital. Modern operations demand the ability to move, supply and reinforce across theatres, under conditions of disruption. NSPA is supporting the prepositioning of stockpiles and securing supply chains to make this possible.

We are working with Allies to ensure that critical supplies, such as fuel, ammunition and spare parts, are available where and when they are needed. We are also investing in digital logistics systems and predictive analytics to anticipate demand, manage stockpiles and reduce downtime.

This is what ensures that forces can deploy and sustain operations in complex multi-domain environments. Whether it is defending Allied territory, supporting partners under attack or responding to a crisis, continuous sustainment is the decisive factor that enables strategy to translate into operational success.

Forging a multi-domain future is not simply about platforms or technologies. It is about the industrial and logistical backbone that enables our forces to respond rapidly and effectively. It is about ensuring that Europe avoids fragmentation but also avoids over-dependence. It is about combining specialization with competition to build resilience.

At NSPA, we are committed to this mission. Together with our Allies, partners and industry, we will continue to ensure that NATO forces are ready, sustained and resilient, no matter the challenge, no matter the domain.

INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

From concept to capability: Multi-Domain Operations

Supporting the Alliance in its evolutionary digital journey

Sven Trusch

Managing Director, Systematic’s German subsidiary

Operational reality and digital foundations

When it comes to integration, NATO and its member countries are moving from policy and doctrine to implementation. Multi-Domain Operations (MDO) now define how modern forces must act: they should be connected across land, maritime, air, cyber and space – and increasingly involve civilian, governmental and non-governmental partners.

This evolution is driven by operational experience. Recent conflicts and large-scale exercises have shown how dispersed forces, exponential data growth and accelerated decision cycles challenge traditional command structures. Success now depends on a commander’s ability to see, understand and act across all domains – instantly, decisively and securely.

To meet this demand, NATO has already defined the framework and launched this comprehensive digital transformation. The C3

Strategy, Digital Transformation Implementation Strategy (DTIS), Data Strategy as well as the Federated Mission Networking (FMN) collectively establish how the Alliance will build its federated digital backbone. These frameworks outline how information superiority must be built – not as isolated systems, but as a connected, trusted ecosystem linking every level of command.

The principles of NATO’s federated digital backbone are now being realized in practice. Across the Alliance, nations are deploying interoperable, data-centric C4ISR environments that translate doctrine into daily command. These systems enable information sharing, operational coherence and sovereign control across all domains – the foundation of true MDO.

Adoption is converging on a common, C4ISR baseline, federated by design. Aligned with NATO digitalization initiatives and validated against standards, such as the Multilateral Interoperability Programme (MIP) and the Allied Procedural Publications (APP), this shared baseline marks where NATO’s digital-transformation policy becomes operational reality.

NATO’s path to federated C4ISR

For MDO to succeed, NATO’s chosen C4ISR solutions must connect all military domains – and equally, civil and government actors through shared data models and service interfaces. This foundation will enable commanders to plan, decide and act

from a common operational picture that is trusted and secure.

But modern command and control must go beyond information exchange. It has to merge situational awareness, decision support and execution into one adaptive digital environment. Open, modular architectures are key, enabling national and Alliance systems to integrate sensors, intelligence feeds and mission data as part of a coherent operational framework. Increasingly, artificial intelligence and automation drive this process, turning data into foresight: identifying patterns, correlating inputs and accelerating coordination across domains. What once took minutes or hours now happens in near real-time, giving decision makers a measurable advantage.

Equally important is the protection of the information that fuels this system. NATO’s federated model depends on architectures that are sovereign by design – deployable within national or shared infrastructures, enforcing classification, releasability and audit controls to preserve ownership of data within coalition networks. Secure, containerized cloud and edge deployments aligned with NATO’s Digital Backbone ensure resilience and scalability, even in dispersed or degraded environments.

Federated C4ISR must also reflect the breadth of modern operations. NATO’s evolving capability areas extend beyond pure command functions to include coordinated effects, sustainment and health.

This means linking joint fires and targeting systems with logistics and medical readiness data, ensuring that operational tempo, resources and the human dimension are managed within the same information space.

And these capabilities are no longer aspirational. They have been demonstrated, tested and validated repeatedly in NATO and multinational exercises such as CWIX, REPMUS and DYNAMIC MESSENGER, where nations prove that interoperability, data protection and sovereign control can coexist in a shared digital ecosystem. Across NATO, the foundations of this federated model are already visible – there is a clear need for a unified system connecting domains, nations and commanders through information advantage rather than information volume.

As federated capabilities mature, NATO and its members must ensure that this federated ecosystem evolves in line with European principles of data protection and national ownership. Once operational data enters a digital C2 environment, it should remain under the authority of the contributing nation. Upholding this principle will be key to maintaining sovereignty while enabling interoperability – ensuring that the trust built through years of cooperation becomes the foundation

for the Alliance’s next stage of digital transformation.

Systematic’s SitaWare Suite already fulfills these requirements. It is an operationally proven C4ISR solution and force multiplier – deployed globally by more than 50 nations and recently selected as the C2 software for NATO’s Land Forces operations.

The road ahead

MDO is now the operational baseline for NATO and its partners. The task ahead is implementation at scale – aligning diverse national systems, timelines and regulations of all member countries, without compromising sovereignty or coherence. This is not only a technical challenge but also an organizational and political one, requiring trust, governance and sustained coordination among NATO members, industry and NATO agencies. Achieving full operational effectiveness will require capability management and procurement processes across all stakeholders to evolve in line with operational realities – and at a pace that matches the rapid development of the Alliance’s technological capabilities. Nations must balance innovation with stability and ensure interoperability as technology evolves. Information advantage will depend on how effectively the Alliance can maintain this equilibrium – securing its digital

backbone while enabling continuous evolution in AI, automation and data-driven operations.

The next three to five years will therefore define what success looks like: NATO’s federated digital backbone and national authorities enabling seamless cross-domain coordination, built on a common, standards-aligned C4ISR foundation adopted across the Alliance. Data will flow securely between sovereign networks, while AI supports faster decision-making without obscuring accountability – coordinated through a single, common operational picture, powered by proven European C4ISR expertise and fielded solutions.

Systematic contributes to this evolution in the Alliance’s digital journey, through commercial-off-the-shelf C4ISR software that spans the entire battlespace. As a trusted partner to NATO, we turn proven interoperability into full Multi-Domain Operations – together.

DELIVERING MACHINE SPEED CAPABILITY WITH TASK FORCE MAVEN

Task Force Maven Director at SHAPE, Colonel Arnel David , shares insights into NATO’s first AI-enabled command and control platform. He explains how the adoption of the Maven Smart System’s real-time fusion of information streams accelerates planning and decisionmaking, providing a powerful force multiplier

The character of modern warfare has undergone a revolutionary change. The deluge of data and hyperscale computation is enabling a speed and tempo the world has never witnessed. To meet this challenge, NATO has achieved a strategic breakthrough that is fundamentally reshaping its warfighting ability: the rapid adoption of the Maven Smart System (MSS). This was not merely a software purchase; it was a decisive stroke that magnified the Alliance’s combat power to create an immediate strategic advantage. MSS is the nucleus of a new, data-centric warfighting paradigm, providing a unified data ontology and advanced analytics to drive real-time decision-making in a multi-domain operations

(MDO) environment. Additionally, the task force’s integration with NCIA, NATO’s digital backbone and the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA) has ignited a virtuous cycle of innovation, ensuring that NATO can continuously integrate cutting-edge technology to outpace any adversary. We have moved from discussing digital transformation to ruthless action and capability delivery.

Single version of the truth MSS is not just a technical upgrade; it is a fundamental shift in how NATO projects power and ensures its readiness with strategic clarity. For the first time ever,

we are aggregating many authoritative data sources to achieve what Admiral Sir Keith Blount, Deputy SACEUR, calls a “single version of the truth”. This unassailable understanding of our forces, capabilities and true readiness is vital. This intellectual acumen is the very bedrock of deterrence and defence planning. It is no longer enough to claim we can halt aggression; we must possess and project a demonstrable, credible deterrent capability that leaves no doubt in the mind of any would-be adversary.

To capitalize on AI applications, an ontology and lineage for data is needed. AI applications don’t understand context or meaning; they understand structure. A data ontology provides the machine with a common language and framework for defining concepts, their attributes and their relationships (for example, classifying a ‘jet’ as an ‘air platform’ with specific ‘weapon systems’). Without this shared structure, an AI model trained on one system’s terminology wouldn’t be able to integrate data from another. MSS establishes this common schema across

NATO systems, unlocking the possibility of interoperable AI applications. This interoperability and trust are paramount in a warfighting context.

The data lineage we are building is the audit trail that traces every piece of information – where it originated, how it was processed, when it was modified and by which application. For AI, this is vital for validation and debugging. It enables human analysts and commanders to validate the source and quality of the data feeding an AI recommendation, fulfilling the moral and operational imperative of being able to explain any decision.

In essence, MSS acts as the digital integrator of the Alliance’s information – it breaks down the barriers between systems by creating a unified understanding of what every data point means and an indisputable record of where it came from. This foundational work is what ultimately enables AI to operate at machine speed with the trust and reliability necessary for command at all levels.

The rapid adoption of the Maven Smart System has heralded a strategic breakthrough for the Alliance, marking a new era of warfighting capability (PHOTO: NATO SHAPE OCCA)

“Our tight, unprecedented partnership with NCIA and DIANA is changing the game. We are no longer talking about delivering warfighting capability in years; we will do it in months”

Digital twin

To improve warfighting, MSS provides a digital twin for MDO testing in the Alliance, by leveraging its foundational data platform to create a real-time, high-fidelity semantic model of virtually any battlespace. This digital twin capability is critical because it enables commanders to simulate future states of the world and test decisions against a live, synthetic environment. By serving as a constantly updated, secure digital environment for planning and simulation, MSS fundamentally changes command from a reactive, sequential process to a proactive, machine-aided, predictive science, fulfilling the imperative of achieving converging effects at the speed of modern war.

One of the most exciting aspects of this journey is the innovation ecosystem that we are creating around MSS. Small start-ups in Europe can scale rapidly by integrating immediately on the platform through our planned hackathons and industry days. Our tight, unprecedented partnership with NCIA and DIANA is changing the game. We are no longer talking about delivering warfighting capability in years; we will do it in months. We have an expanding roster of cuttingedge vendors and companies clamouring to integrate. We are actively accelerating this growth with these innovative events, turning the brightest minds in the private sector into strategic partners who are directly contributing to the security of the North Atlantic.

MSS gives us economies of scale with the ability to share code and applications across the entire Alliance, to include US combatant commands – many of which have been using MSS for several years. Instead of starting

from scratch to develop a logistics or personnel systems algorithm or application, we can share them immediately with each other for rapid integration. This is a new level of collaboration with AI applications and code. It is a benefit of being in an Alliance with a common platform. We now have a ‘builder’s corner’ with new applications emerging almost every day.

Innovation in ACO (Allied Command Operations) is now a unified front. We have a clear, powerful mandate from the very top, with General Alexus Grynkewich (SACEUR) himself designating innovation as a core priority in ACO. This is a call to arms based on urgency and necessity with a matched commitment rising from the ground up –technologically savvy and operationally experienced individuals who are connecting the dots among process, people and technology to drive rapid digital change. This is not just organic growth; it is a strategic synthesis.

Task Force Maven, the realization of a powerful top-tier mandate fused with a grassroots digital movement, has moved ACO from deliberation to ruthless execution and capability delivery. We have shattered data silos, established the semantic foundation for AI command and are creating a digital twin for predictive MDO planning. This is not innovation for efficiency’s sake; it is a fundamental act of strategic transformation. The true measure of our success will be the certainty it projects: that NATO is a hyper-effective, data-centric warfighting machine, capable of achieving converging effects at a speed no adversary can match. Our sustained, machinespeed tempo is the final, unassailable guarantee that the price of aggression will be defeat, securing peace through absolute strength and military excellence.

5G/6G technologies: transforming multi-domain operations

Delivering the data required for analysis and decision-making with dual-use technology

Giuseppe Targia

Senior Vice-President, Nokia Space and Defense

How are 5G/6G technologies transforming MDO and what unique advantages will be unlocked for NATO?

Current tactical radio systems are based on technology that is comparable to 3G in that it was primarily designed for voice communications with a lesser ability to transfer data. However, with the introduction of multiple types of powerful sensors onto military areas of responsibility there has been a surge in the collection of all types of data – audio, imagery, video, metrics ELINT, SIGINT, OSINT and so on. Until now, the missing link has been the ability to rapidly transport these huge volumes of data to and from the edge for analysis and decision making. 5G/6G dual-use technology is being developed to help plug that gap.

The power of this dual-use approach is the vast amounts of money that is being invested by the commercial sector in what is already a $100 billion market. This immense scale unlocks

the ability not only to introduce very high levels of performance (bandwidth and latency) at very low cost but also apply almost universal interoperability across multiple domains – air, land, sea, space and cyber. This is what is transforming MDO.

How is Nokia working with NATO to introduce improved operational ability at the edge via 5G/6G?

Huge amounts of commercial investments have delivered 99% of the required operational capability, but there is still a missing 1% that needs to be introduced – and that is the actual defence use cases. In other words, you have to transform this dual-use technology into actual military power. Our dedicated defence unit works closely with NATO to unlock the required operational capabilities at the strategic level, in forward domains as well as at the tactical edge.

For example, our Nokia Banshee tactical radios are designed to provide mission critical services at the edge. In May 2025, the US Marines Corps acquired the Banshee radio following evaluations at the Yuma proving grounds and successful trials during the Project Convergence exercise.

What technologies are required to unlock the full military potential of 5G/6G? 5G and 6G, or more generally 3GPP, are enablers not actual military products in themselves. They are the

transport solution for valuable data from sensor to decision maker to shooter. It therefore needs associated technologies to keep it secure and also enable it to operate in a contested environment. Obviously, cyber security technologies and edge-compute capabilities are already paramount, but increasingly, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing are playing a greater role.

Fortunately, when Nokia acquired Alcatel-Lucent in 2016, Bell Labs became a Nokia facility. It undertakes world-beating advanced research and development in both AI and quantum computing particularly in relation to next-generations telecom networks. This is part of the reason Nokia remains a leading provider of mobile communications systems, solutions and technologies.

Which partnerships are helping Nokia scale its defence portfolio and how do they enhance interoperability?

We collaborate with military communities from numerous countries within the NATO Alliance and beyond, including Finland, Germany, Latvia, the UK and the US. In addition to these activities, we partner with commercial companies within the defence sector that offer existing operational capabilities and platforms across all the domains. A great example is our collaboration with Latvian Mobile Telephone (LMT) on the NATO Digital Backbone Experimentation (DiBAX), which has

gone a long way to highlight the potential of 5G to enhance military interoperability.

Nokia is always looking for ideas to accelerate 5G defence use cases, and partnerships are a great way to do this. This September, we announced a partnership with Motorola to deliver next-generation deployable tactical communications systems to the UK Armed Forces. Earlier this year, in March, we agreed a partnership with Lockheed Martin (and Verizon) to integrate 5G solutions into their 5G.MIL® Hybrid Base Station. We also have partnerships with Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to advance 5G and future 6G tactical communications. Another exciting collaboration is with Rheinmetall’s blackned GmbH to deliver mobile 5G tactical communications to the German Armed Forces.

How does Nokia contribute to developing NATO standards to enhance interoperability?

Nokia is extremely active in the development of NATO standards for 5G. Dr Alexander Hamiliton who is Director of Science, Technology and Standardization at Nokia Space & Defense chairs the NATO Wireless Communications Standards Project (NWCSP). This group of military, civilian, commercial and academic experts is responsible for developing the endorsed STANAG 5665 - a set of standards for 5G. STANAG 5665 will set the framework for establishing secure interoperability in wireless communication, and is absolutely fundamental to future interoperability. We also participate in the NATO CWIX (Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise). The CWIX series of annual exercises are specifically designed to help develop and test the systems, standards, procedures and doctrines required for NATO to successfully implement MDO by 2030.

However, it must be remembered that true interoperability has to incorporate both existing and

future equipment and systems. Nokia recognizes that the traditional radio systems and networks currently in service will remain there for some time. It is crucial therefore, that 3GPP systems can interoperate with these traditional systems. This is something Nokia has been investigating for a long time. We recently successfully tested the Finnish tactical radio system with our military-grade 4G/5G network kit in Finland with Bittium. This represents a true milestone in the development of interoperability, which will have an impact on the entire Alliance.

How will Nokia introduce faster, smarter defence operations using quantum networking and AI at the Edge?

As I mentioned earlier, Nokia Bell Labs is working tirelessly on quantum and AI solutions to enhance wireless communications at the edge, because we know that AI will play a vital role in the future of the RAN/Open RAN (Radio Access Networks) that will connect mobile devices to core networks. For example, AI will be used to simplify network management, optimize the

performance and quality of experience delivered by the network. It will allow:

• the self-configuration of the network, through automated, autonomous operations,

• its self-optimization, driving enhancement in throughput,

• self-healing, accelerating resolution time of possible problems, with up to 90% faster detection and repair time.

Likewise, Nokia Bell Labs is looking into which parts of quantum safety are vital for secure networking, data storage and radio. This is critically important work and part of the reason that Nokia has been at the forefront of 3GPP technology for many years and is essential for introducing faster, smarter defence operations.

nokia.com/industries/defense

THE PROVING GROUND

What was the scope and purpose of Exercise

Steadfast Cobalt 25?

Exercise Steadfast Cobalt 25 was designed to validate the interoperability, resilience and readiness of NATO’s federated mission networks. It brought together 12 Allied Nations and 36 NATO entities to test the full range of deployable communications and information systems (DCIS) that underpin NATO’s Command Structure (NCS).

In essence, Steadfast Cobalt acts as a technical gateway where every unit, node and service joining the mission network is rigorously verified and validated before it becomes part of the operational environment. Due to the scale of the task to integrate the designated units into the operational domain, Steadfast Cobalt 25 was executed in two phases, Alpha in spring and Bravo in autumn. These events placed special emphasis on high-readiness formations preparing the Allied Reaction Force (ARF), ensuring that critical information technology (IT), network configurations and cyber-security controls perform seamlessly across national boundaries.

Beyond its official mandate, how did Steadfast Cobalt 25 serve as a proving ground for the network resilience and interoperability required for multi-domain operations?

Beyond its formal role, Steadfast Cobalt 25 provides a large-scale environment to enable multi-domain operations (MDO). The exercise facilitates the set up in which air, land, maritime, cyber and space assets can share situational awareness and coordinate effects in real-time. These capabilities are then used in follow-up exercises which utilize the network that was set up during Steadfast Cobalt 25.

Talia Goode talks to Andres Bulk, Principal Interoperability Engineer, and Nicholas Lambert, Principal Enterprise Architect, in their respective roles as Verification and Validation Authority and Design Authority for mission networks, to find out how Exercise Steadfast Cobalt 25 tested NATO’s combined communication and information systems (CIS) networks

Working in close partnership with the NATO CIS Group (NCISG), NCIA deals with complex challenges ranging from bandwidth constraints to cyber disruptions threatening the systems. The results demonstrate that true multi-domain effectiveness depends not just on robust technology, but on shared standards, disciplined configuration management and human expertise to adapt networks dynamically under pressure.

What role did NCIA engineers undertake in the exercise, and what were the highlights of their activities?

NCIA engineers form the technical core of the exercise. In the planning phases, NCIA engineers act as the Technical Authority for the Mission Network Federation. We analyse the requirements of the user community and apply the capabilities provided by Nations to supply federated services across the shared infrastructure provided by NATO and the Nations. In the execution phase, the engineers provide the static NCS infrastructure and together with NCISG link it to the deployable CIS infrastructure of NATO and the Nations, delivering seamless federated services managed through shared network operations and protected by shared and integrated cyber-security services.

Where national engineers require assistance, NCIA and NCISG engineers are always ready to assist. As Operating Authority for the Mission Network Federation, NCIA experts also oversee the resolution of technical and cyber incidents that affect federated services, which transcend across several discrete networks in the federation. NCIA’s responsibilities therefore affect every layer and aspect of NATO’s communications environment – from satellite links

and tactical radio networks to applications, mission data exchange gateways and user applications.

A highlight this year was the use of a federated multicast service to enable national units to share the feeds from tactical-level deployed sensors, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), across the multinationally provided network to the headquarters of the NATO Command Structure and the NATO Force Structure.

Multi-domain operations place unprecedented demands on a network, requiring more speed, scale and resilience. What was the single most demanding MDO-related pressure tested during the exercise? The most demanding challenge was achieving ‘speed at scale’ while maintaining reliable, secure data exchange across hundreds of distributed nodes and simultaneously supporting MDO. MDO requires that decisions be made and executed at the ‘speed of relevance’, which in practice means that networks must quickly deliver data flows even in congested or degraded environments. During the exercise, NCIA tested federated architectures that could

automatically prioritize mission-critical traffic and reroute data when segments became contested. Achieving that level of agility without compromising security remains one of the central engineering challenges for the Alliance.

Based on the types of network challenges seen in recent conflicts, such as GPS denial or sophisticated jamming, how does the exercise build resilience against these advanced threats?

Resilience is no longer theoretical; it is a design requirement. All DCIS and satellite communications nodes are equipped with capabilities that enable NATO Headquarters to continue to operate, despite potential or ongoing jamming. This requires both technical and procedural solutions. The procedural solution known as a PACE plan establishes a four-tiered backup communication plan (primary, alternate, contingency, emergency) to ensure communication is maintained even if primary systems fail. The mark of a good command and control (C2) structure is that it is able to communicate between itself and with its subordinates 24/7 no matter what the environment or enemy throws at it.

Deployed to Mons, Belgium, for Exercise Steadfast Cobalt, NCIA experts serve as the verification and validation authority to identify interoperability issues early, resolving them collaboratively and transparently with those on the ground (PHOTO: NCIA)

“ The confidence built through Steadfast Cobalt accelerates readiness and reduces risk”

The CIS architecture, supported by a PACE plan, enables this uninterrupted communication. The PACE plan is regularly exercised at Steadfast Cobalt and integrates the human dimension of resilience, to recognize anomalies, switch to backup modes and maintain mission continuity. This scenario feeds into NATO’s evolving defensive architecture, ensuring that lessons from both exercises and real-world conflicts are systematically applied.

From a collaborative standpoint, what are the most common interoperability challenges that arise when working with multiple Allied national teams during the exercise, and how does NCIA’s on-the-ground expertise help resolve them?

The most common challenges lie at the intersection of technical diversity and procedural alignment. Although all Allies’ systems are technically interoperable, each national unit has its own configurations, security baselines and operational culture. Even minor variations in encryption settings, version mismatches or naming conventions can hinder connectivity if not managed in advance.

NCIA’s role is to act as the verification and validation authority to identify interoperability issues early, and act as the technical authority assuring all the CIS designs are clear, understood and built on common Federated Mission Networking (FMN) principles across all services. Furthermore, together with NCISG, we act as the integrator, providing common technical standards, shared tools and continuous liaison between national and NATO Command Structure units. NCIA engineers present on the ground ensure issues are resolved collaboratively and transparently. We bring the cooperative mindset needed to harmonize national contributions without compromising sovereignty. This teamwork transforms potential friction points into opportunities for shared learning and innovation.

From this exercise, what is the most critical lesson learned that will directly influence how NCIA designs, builds and defends its communication networks for a multi-domain future?

The single most important lesson is that resilience must be engineered into the federated network from the outset. Multi-domain operations demand systems

that can anticipate, absorb and recover from disruption. That means we must embed cyber security, redundancy and adaptability as design principles, not as add-ons. Steadfast Cobalt 25 showed that future networks will need to be modular and self-healing, capable of re-routing, reprioritizing and re-securing data paths autonomously.

NCIA is already incorporating these insights into the Alliance’s next-generation CIS architecture, ensuring that NATO’s digital capabilities remain both interoperable and battle-ready.

Looking ahead, how will the outcomes of Steadfast Cobalt 25 directly affect the capabilities and readiness of NATO and the new Allied Reaction Force (ARF)?

The outcomes of Steadfast Cobalt 25 provide the technical foundation for the rapid-response forces at the heart of NATO’s new Force Model. The validated mission networks, tested configurations and crossdomain connectivity achieved during the exercise support the ARF’s expanded, multi-domain remit.

In practical terms, this means that when these highreadiness units deploy, their communications, data and command services will already be interoperable, connected and able to be used instantaneously when a crisis occurs. The confidence built through Steadfast Cobalt accelerates readiness and reduces risk, but the federated network will need to be continuously monitored and exercised multinationally by a technical community and tested to its limits by the operational community to prove the technical solutions support NATO’s readiness.

EMDYN Phalanx: turn multi-source data into instant intelligence

How does EMDYN turn satellite fragmentation into operational foresight?

Chief Executive Officer, EMDYN

Satellite data might have become an essential tool in modern operations, yet not all satellite intelligence is created equal. Gaps in coverage, delay in refresh and lack of interoperability can easily lead to critical blind spots at the worst possible time.

EMDYN Phalanx, our bespoke geospatial data fusion centre, eliminates these vulnerabilities by fusing imagery, sensor data and signals from all major satellite providers into a single, synchronized intelligence layer. Redundancy turns into resilience while fragmentation becomes foresight.

The ability to deliver intelligence at mission speed is another key facet. Tactical relevance has a clear shelf life, so when analysts waste time navigating siloed archives, converting formats or validating source integrity, the mission suffers. With EMDYN Phalanx, data fusion is continuous, automatic and adaptive. Multiple orbits, modalities and satellite providers are matched at machine speed, ensuring every operational picture is based on the most current, verified inputs,

not outdated snapshots or single-source assumptions.

How does EMDYN tackle data saturation in the modern satellite ecosystem?

EMDYN Phalanx neutralises data saturation by transforming oversupply into strategic clarity. As commercial constellations flood the battlespace with EO, SAR, IR and hyperspectral data, EMDYN’s proprietary AI filters noise by automatically detecting anomalies, deviations and operational shifts. This strips out irrelevant volume, forcing focus onto what matters.

How does EMDYN achieve full synchronisation across diverse sensor feeds?

EMDYN correlates disparate satellite inputs into a coherent, query-ready view. The system aligns multiple modalities – EO, SAR, IR, hyperspectral – into a synchronized framework. This enables analysts to act on fully integrated intelligence rather than fragmented snapshots, directing attention with precision rather than assumption.

How does EMDYN cover observational and temporal gaps in satellite intelligence?

EMDYN integrates feeds across multiple satellite providers to eliminate coverage gaps. Latency, quality and availability issues in one source are counterbalanced by others. We fuse inputs in real time, ensuring uninterrupted pattern-of-life analysis, object tracking and anomaly detection—even under cloud cover, in contested zones or without GPS.

How does EMDYN ensure data security and sovereignty in processing?

EMDYN processes all satellite, signal, human, open-source and proprietary data within secure mission infrastructure. No cloud APIs, no external inferences, no data leakage. Third-party and proprietary feeds are fused without exposure. The in-house AI operates entirely on site, handling all data types locally while preserving performance, control and classification integrity.

What are the benefits of dynamic GEOINT fusion?

Although satellite imagery on its own is static, fused GEOINT is dynamic. EMDYN Phalanx does not just visualise the terrain, it fully understands it. By layering crossdomain data over imagery drawn from signals, human, open-source and real-time sensors, we achieve operational clarity – decision-ready, not simply for display. Analysts move from data ingestion to action without switching context.

In operations where the truth is contested and the pace is unrelenting, traditional satellite workflows collapse under pressure. EMDYN delivers fused, trusted real-time GEOINT that moves at mission speed, something that legacy systems cannot provide. When every second counts, clarity is not a luxury, it is the front line, available exactly when needed.

How does EMDYN Phalanx achieve understanding yet at machine speed?

The future of geospatial intelligence does not lie in simply piling in more

Tim Van Renterghem

For further information about the EMDYN Phalanx, partnership opportunities or to request a technical briefing, please contact: EMDYN.COM

Conversely, speed without understanding is just noise, so EMDYN Phalanx delivers on both counts.

AI identifies irregular movement, clustered behaviours, timing anomalies and emergent baselines, all within seconds. Analysts are presented not with raw input, but operational hypotheses. The system filters volume down to decision points so what once took teams hours now takes moments and confidence in outcomes is fully realized.

real time, across providers, within the same single platform used for fusion and analysis. With no intermediaries and no delays, from orbital asset to fused output, tasking becomes a live function of the operational workflow. Where other systems must wait, EMDYN moves to give unmatched access at unrivalled speed.

Where does EMDYN Phalanx make the difference?

EMDYN is built for the moments when clarity cannot wait.

When traditional systems stall under overload or compromise under complexity, EMDYN holds its line. This is not mapping. This is operational certainty.

emdyn.com

Efe Gürbüz speaks with Allegra Murra from NCIA’s Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JISR) team about their recent deployment for Dynamic Messenger and REPMUS 25, highlighting advanced counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) to protect maritime assets while offering her perspective as an early career expert contributing to operational innovation

What is your role as an engineer in the Joint Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JISR) team and what does your work typically involve, especially when preparing for an exercise such as Dynamic Messenger and REPMUS 25?

As an engineer involved in the organization of exercises, my role is to make sure that technical aspects such as frequency authorizations, system deployment plans, test plans and all logistics are properly set up before the event begins. We have several reference counterunmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) at NCIA, which I prepare before the exercise by checking that everything functions correctly so it can be used in full readiness.

We also work with compliant companies that participate in our technical interoperability exercises. We guide them through the implementation of key standards and requirements. We hold coordination meetings to ensure systems can be integrated and tested effectively. By doing so, we take a significant step towards integrating C-UAS solutions into a unified and interoperable architecture, or, as I like to say, turning a collection of sensors into a single orchestra against the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) threat.

What specific threat do small aerial drones pose to naval assets and why is testing our defences so critical?

The ongoing war in Ukraine has shown us just how versatile and cost-effective UAS can be against every type of platform, including ground, naval and airborne systems. Their effectiveness comes from their unique characteristics: they can be very small, fast, unpredictable and capable of flying under radar coverage.

In the naval environment, things get more complicated. These drones pose a serious threat to naval installations and ships, both in harbour and while sailing. Although such a drone can carry a relatively small amount of explosives, which cannot sink a warship, by targeting critical elements such as the bridge, navigation systems or radar systems, the operation of the ship can be disrupted at a very low cost. That makes a good understanding of how drones can operate and attack maritime targets essential for developing effective protection.

We observed that naval platforms are not yet fully prepared for modern UAS threats. Exercises such as this enable us to test, learn and align with the latest techniques, tactics and procedures (TTPs). Deploying, installing and operating C-UAS at sea involves additional factors such as ship movement across six axes and radar backscattering due to maritime wave propagation. Testing these systems against malicious drone threats is therefore essential.

What type of capability did your team provide for the exercise and what was its primary function?

NCIA organized a mini C-UAS Technical Interoperability Exercise (mTIE), in conjunction with Dynamic Messenger 25. We deployed equipment such as radio frequency passive sensors, radars, cameras, acoustic sensors capable of detecting small drones, the Tactical Awareness Kit (TAK), with the BOREADIS command and control (C2) systems provided by industry. We also deployed effectors capable of disrupting the operation of drones and C2 systems used to orchestrate the communication between sensors and shooters. Two-man portable jammers were used to test whether we could disrupt air or surface UAS.

We connected all these elements using a special data exchange format called STANREC 4869 (SAPIENT), which enables seamless integration between different systems. We have tested this format in multiple scenarios, pushing its limits and improving it in line with the latest TTPs.

In addition, Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) tasked NCIA to provide target drones for the live firing

parts of the exercise. To address this, we procured remote-controlled UAS, including first-person view drones, some of which were operated over fibre-optic cables. Five skilled pilots from NCIA formed a team to simulate attacks, as described in the exercise scenario.

Could you share a story from the exercise that highlights a key challenge your team faced and how you overcame it?

There were quite a few challenges, especially around integrating sensors both onshore and aboard the Spanish ship ‘Cantabria’.

One of the biggest hurdles involved the inertial navigation system (INS) data, which is crucial for the radar to function accurately. Without INS data, the radar struggles to estimate distance, azimuth (the horizontal angle, measured clockwise from a reference direction (usually north), to an object), and elevation correctly because the ship never stops moving. In our naval vignette aboard Cantabria, the INS data was not available. To overcome this, our team worked hand in hand with engineers from the radar company to compensate for the ship’s motion. The solution was a script that estimated and injected motion data into the radar system.

What was a personal or professional highlight for you during the exercise?

This was our first maritime C-UAS exercise. Organizing aerial defence systems for naval environments required a completely different mindset and a different set of TTPs.

We trained operators to use portable jammers, and we proved that vessel protection must evolve to face modern small aircraft threats. We tested our UAS pilots in challenging conditions, in a way that cannot be achieved on land. We even confirmed that drones cannot be neutralized effectively with traditional ammunition.

For me, the highlight was seeing our contribution translate into a real operational advantage at sea, giving ships the tools and confidence to counter a fast-evolving threat. It showed how the work we do every day directly enhances maritime defence and prepares the Alliance for what comes next.

What is it like to work on such a cutting-edge project within NCIA and how does your team foster innovation?

It is exciting because you truly feel that every day you are contributing to a growing body of knowledge. We are improving systems that are needed now, not in

the distant future. I work in an exceptional team formed by smart people who recognize each other’s strengths and know how to use them effectively. We are open, collaborative and always ready to help one another. Feeling appreciated and trusted encourages everyone to bring their best ideas forward and that is how innovation happens.

How does counter-drone capability at sea enable broader multi-domain operations (MDO) for the Alliance?

A robust maritime C-UAS system capability ensures that the naval domain is not an isolated bubble but a fully integrated element within NATO’s MDO. Drones do not respect domain boundaries. They move freely between air, sea and land, so our defences must do the same. By establishing interoperable systems at sea, NATO can create a shared situational awareness layer that links naval, air and land assets. This improves coordination and enables decision-

makers to respond faster and more effectively across domains.

In short, maritime C-UAS are not only about protecting ships, they are about connecting them to the bigger operational picture.

What is the future of counter-unmanned aircraft systems in NATO?

The mini C-UAS Technical Interoperability Exercise we conducted highlighted that the future of NATO’s C-UAS capability lies in integrated sensing and distributed decision-making, aligned with emerging and existing NATO standards. The next step is ensuring that systems communicate seamlessly. Once that is achieved, we will move from isolated defences to a networked, resilient and adaptive architecture. In other words, the future is about smarter systems that do not just detect and defend, but operate as one.

NCIA installed C-UAS systems onboard Spanish naval ship ‘Cantabria’ to detect and monitor the ‘enemy’ drones, which took off from vessels situated nearby (top) (PHOTO: NCIA)

FORGING THE ARCTIC SHIELD A NEW CENTRE OF GRAVITY FOR AIR POWER IN THE NORTH

The first Commander of NATO’s newest Combined Air Operations Centre, Major General Tron Strand , explains the strategic rationale for the facility in Bodø, Norway. He also highlights its role in the overall security architecture in the High North and as a future hub for joint operations

Innovations in civilian and military technologies, novel applications and emerging doctrines are changing the characteristics of how modern warfare is conducted. The rapid introduction of robotics with differing levels of autonomy and AI, combined with the proliferation of military-grade and improvised commercial-off-the-shelf long-range precision munitions, as well as the democratization of space, are driving a paradigm shift towards more autonomous operations in increasingly complex and contested environments.

In such conditions, traditional assumptions about safe havens, sanctuary bases and predictable operating areas are eroding at speed. Achieving victory in this environment demands more advanced integration and synchronization of military efforts across all domains. Acknowledging these trends, the Royal Norwegian Air

Force (RNoAF) developed its National Air Operations Centre (NAOC) into a Joint Air Operations Centre (JAOC) on 1 January 2024 to better exploit the full array of national and Allied capabilities and to lead air operations in support of all domains. This organizational shift laid the foundation for a more ambitious evolution: the establishment of NATO’s newest Combined Air Operations Centre – CAOC Bodø.

A strategic inflection point in the High North The contemporary shift in warfighting coincides with transformative geopolitical developments. Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO fundamentally alters the strategic geometry of the Nordic region.

Simultaneously, the Alliance has established its third Joint Force Command (JFC) in Norfolk, USA. Taken together, these developments reshape NATO’s posture in the

High North. They also unlock an unprecedented opportunity: to integrate Nordic airpower into a coherent, interoperable and technologically enabled air-defence architecture that can provide real deterrent value from day one. CAOC Bodø sits at the centre of this effort.

Why Bodø, why now?

CAOC Bodø was officially opened on 10 October 2025 and immediately took command of NATO’s Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) posture in the region, a milestone that came only five months after Norway was selected as host nation for NATO’s third CAOC. The speed of the establishment underscores both the urgency of the mission and the flexibility of the Norwegian model, which consolidates national and NATO responsibilities under a single double-hatted command structure. This model serves several strategic purposes:

• Resilience against long-range precision threats: For decades, NATO’s air command and control (AirC2) has relied on a centralized structure with a single large air operations centre. That model is no longer survivable against adversaries with advanced long-range, high-precision strike capabilities. CAOC Bodø is designed from the outset to be part of a distributed and resilient triad of CAOCs (Bodø, Torrejon and Uedem), able to share responsibilities, reinforce each other and, if necessary, assume each other’s mission sets.

• Integration across Nordic air forces: With Sweden and Finland in NATO, Nordic airpower collectively constitutes one of the most formidable air-defence groupings in Europe. The Nordic Air Chiefs have endorsed a Nordic Air Power Concept that emphasizes integrated AirC2 as a core line of effort. CAOC Bodø enables the rapid operationalization of this concept, fostering shared procedures, shared situational awareness and, crucially, a shared culture.

• A technology-forward command node: CAOC Bodø aims to act as a living laboratory for NATO AirC2, emphasizing warfighter-driven innovation and rapid development of AirC2 processes. The facility’s proximity to major exercises in the High North, vast training airspace and national digitalization initiatives make it a natural hub for experimentation in AI-enabled battle management, autonomous sensor networks, edge computing and dynamic kill-chain optimization.

• A double-hatted headquarters purpose-built for modern conflict: Norway’s decision to integrate national and NATO responsibilities into a single organization creates operational advantages that few NATO headquarters can match: a standing headquarters for peace, crisis and war.

• Unlike traditional NATO structures that expand dramatically only during crises, CAOC Bodø maintains a standing, integrated staff with daily operational responsibilities. This ensures sustained

readiness, realistic training and seamless transition among peacetime air policing, crisis response and high-intensity warfighting.

• Optimal use of limited personnel: NATO’s need for experienced mid-grade officers is acute. The double-hatted model enables Norwegian personnel to contribute simultaneously to national and NATO missions, enabling a higher total output of trained AirC2 operators than either system could have produced alone.

• Realistic training through combined live and synthetic exercises: Innovation thrives when users, technologists and operators are tightly coupled. CAOC Bodø embodies this principle. It leads air-domain planning for Cold Response 26, a 30,000-person joint exercise. It also leads Ramstein Flag 26, Europe’s largest air exercise with 175+ aircraft. And it supports daily air policing, enhances air surveillance and advances multi-domain integration through both operations and exercises.

A future hub for joint Arctic operations

The High North has moved from a geographical periphery to a strategic centre. CAOC Bodø strengthens NATO’s northern flank in four key ways:

1. Deterrence and assurance – A permanently staffed, technologically advanced, multinational air

headquarters signals NATO’s commitment and reduces reaction time.

2. Regional coherence – Nordic forces now train, plan and operate from a common headquarters, building habits of cooperation that will matter in crisis.

3. Domain integration – CAOC Bodø is designed for a future where air operations must synchronize tightly with maritime, land, cyber and space effects at machine speeds.

4. Experimentation for the Alliance – As a testbed, the CAOC will shape the next generation of NATO AirC2, informing doctrine, technology investment and organizational design.

Building the Arctic Shield

CAOC Bodø represents the most significant evolution in NATO AirC2 in three decades. It is a response to technological disruption, geopolitical transformation and the emergence of a truly joint Nordic region within the Alliance. But ultimately, its success will depend on the people, Norwegian and Allied, who build a shared culture and shared understanding as they operate side by side every day. Forging the Arctic Shield is not simply about modernizing command structures. It is about generating a cohesive, resilient and technologically empowered airpower ecosystem that can deter conflict, defend the Alliance and, if necessary, prevail under the most demanding conditions in the High North.

NATO’s newest Combined Air Operations Centre officially opened in October 2025 in Bodø, Norway and immediately took command of NATO’s Quick Reaction Alert posture in the region (PHOTO: Norwegian MOD)

LATVIA’S TOTAL DEFENCE VIEW FROM THE NATIONS

DETERRENCE AND DEFENCE AGAINST HYBRID THREATS

Latvia’s Minister of Defence, Andris Sprūds, highlights his nation’s whole-of-society Comprehensive Defence concept, which integrates military power with civil preparedness and societal resilience to deter and counter threats.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has profoundly altered the global economic and geopolitical order. It has highlighted vulnerabilities in international security structures and the increasing assertiveness of authoritarian regimes. The full-scale invasion has been accompanied by hybrid warfare. Security threats are no longer confined to the traditional military dimension. Cyber-attacks, disinformation campaigns and the manipulation of migrants have become everyday tools used to destabilize societies and

undermine democratic institutions. As Russia’s tolerance for potential civilian casualties increases, so does its willingness to conduct hybrid operations.

Latvia has historically been subjected to Russia’s hybrid operations. The State Defence Concept (2023) clearly identifies Russia as the main long-term existential threat to Latvia’s security. To effectively deter and defend against hybrid threats, Latvia takes proactive steps, manages risks and strengthens its deterrence posture and resilience.

Modern security challenges are multidimensional. They affect information integrity, cyberspace, civil society, the financial sector and critical infrastructure. To address these multidimensional challenges, Latvia has developed a Comprehensive National Defence System. It embraces a whole-ofgovernment approach designed to ensure that all government and

non-government actors are prepared to manage crises and handle major disruptions. The system is built on trust, collaboration and the active participation of citizens. It emphasizes that national security is not the sole responsibility of the military, but of the entire nation.

Since 2019, strengthening societal and governmental resilience has been one of Latvia’s key priorities. We promote individual responsibility and preparedness in times of crisis, deepen cooperation among institutions, ensure effective public-private partnerships and raise awareness of how individuals can protect themselves, their families and their country.

Comprehensive National Defence System: three levels of resilience Our Comprehensive National Defence System operates on three levels – individual, community and state – each contributing to a strong and resilient Latvia.

“Our defence is not just a policy; it is a mindset that binds the nation together”

Individual level: building a culture of preparedness

At the individual level, we promote a culture of preparedness.

This concept emphasizes the role of every citizen in safeguarding the state’s security. Latvia has become the first country in Europe to introduce a National Defence Course as a compulsory subject in secondary schools. This course equips young people with essential knowledge about statehood, citizenship and defence, instilling values of responsibility, resilience and patriotism from an early age.

In addition, conscription has been reintroduced under the National Defence Service. It has two parts: voluntary conscription for men and women aged 18 to 27, and a computer-based random selection process used to enlist young men on an obligatory basis to make up shortfalls. I support extending this

obligatory part to young women as well and promote an open public discussion about this issue. The conscription process provides basic military training and strengthens understanding of the state’s values and security needs. It enhances public involvement in national defence and contributes to a society better prepared to defend itself in times of crisis.

To ensure broader societal readiness, Latvia has also launched several public information campaigns aimed at raising awareness of personal preparedness. In 2024, the Ministry of Defence released the third edition of the brochure ‘What to Do in Case of a Crisis’ and a handbook ‘What to Do in Case of War’. These publications help citizens understand practical steps they can take in the first 72 hours of a crisis, ensuring that every household knows how to act during emergencies. In 2019, the Ministry

launched the first defence news portal in the Baltic states, Sargs.lv, which provides reliable, verified and practical information on security and defence in Latvia and abroad, aiming to promote public awareness of how to react in various crisis situations.

Community level: resilient infrastructure and publicprivate cooperation

At the community level, Latvia focuses on building resilience and ensuring the continuity of essential services and facilities. A new classification of critical infrastructure has been implemented to guarantee that vital services such as energy, water supply and communication networks continue to function, at least at a minimal level, during a state of emergency.

Operators of critical infrastructure are now required to develop business contingency plans that

Minister of Defence Andris Sprūds at the Digital Backbone Experiment (DiBAX) event, organized by NATO in cooperation with Latvia’s defence industry and mobile technology company LMT (PHOTO: ARMĪNS JANIKS, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE )

can be activated in crisis situations. Moreover, employees of such infrastructure are encouraged to establish National Guard sub-units to provide physical protection of facilities during a state of emergency.

The government also encourages private-sector involvement in national resilience. Businesses are invited to participate in crisis-management exercises or conduct their own, thereby improving their ability to respond to cyber-attacks, supply-chain disruptions and other hybrid threats.

State level: strengthening coordination and learning from experience

At the state level, Latvia has significantly improved coordination between national and municipal authorities. The Ministry of Defence works closely with municipalities on civil-defence guidelines. We help local governments understand their role in crisis response – including how to support the National Armed Forces and ensure the provision of critical services for the population. Joint seminars and exercises, such as ‘Pilskalns’, test the readiness of municipal authorities to act in the event of military threats.

Every ministry is responsible for preparing contingency plans within its domain, ensuring

that crisis management is comprehensive and coordinated. Latvia also actively incorporates lessons learnt from Russia’s war against Ukraine into its planning – particularly in areas such as civil defence, civil-military cooperation and resilience.

Annual national crisis-management exercises test the preparedness of the Cabinet of Ministers, state institutions, municipalities and private-sector partners for military and hybrid threats. After each exercise, procedures are reviewed and updated to strengthen national crisis-response mechanisms.

Cooperation across borders

Recognizing that security challenges transcend borders, Latvia works closely with its allies to enhance regional resilience. Counter-mobility measures along the eastern border have become a strategic priority for Latvia and the Baltic region. In March 2024, as part of the Baltic Defence Line, Latvia adopted plans for the construction of anti-tank ditches, the preparation of roaddemolition sites and the establishment of storage facilities for explosives, engineering and technical supplies to ensure rapid deployment to the defence line along Latvia’s border.

Latvia has also taken a lead role in emerging defence technologies. The Drone Coalition, proposed by Latvia in 2024, has been instrumental in supporting Ukraine’s unmanned-aerial capabilities. Beyond aiding Ukraine, this initiative has also boosted Latvia’s national defence industry, encouraging innovation, research and collaboration between the military and the private sector.

A new security paradigm

The Comprehensive National Defence approach marks a significant shift in how Latvia perceives national security. For many years, Latvia and other small nations viewed allied military power as the main guarantee of security. Today, although alliances remain vital, we understand that national defence begins at home and security is a shared responsibility.

The combination of hard and soft power, civic education and societal readiness sends a clear message: Latvia will be defended. We will defend our allies. Our defence is not just a policy; it is a mindset that binds the nation together. It ensures that every citizen, institution and partner understands their role in safeguarding freedom, democracy and peace. This unity is Latvia’s greatest strength.

Anti-tank ditches along Latvia’s border with Russia are part of the joint Baltic Defence Line initiative (PHOTO: ARMĪNS JANIKS, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE )

Security tests enable efficient resource allocation instead of blind repairs

Meeting the challenge of strengthening cyber resilience

In today’s threat landscape, security tests are an essential component of strengthening cyber resilience. The challenge lies in identifying and remedying vulnerabilities to ensure the security of data and systems. This is especially important in sensitive areas, such as the defence sector.

Aaron Brown, Lead Security Tester at infodas, works with his team to identify potential security gaps and implement preventive measures. As a BSI-certified IT security service provider and Airbus subsidiary specialized in Cyber and IT, infodas has been a trusted and reliable partner to the military, NATO, and several of its member countries, as well as the defence industry, for more than 50 years.

What specific challenges in the area of cyber security are we seeing in the defence sector?

Much of the infrastructure relies on outdated operating systems, proprietary legacy systems and unsupported hardware, which increases vulnerabilities and complicates patch management.

Additionally, the multitude of platforms – control stations, weapon systems, logistics systems and management systems – with incompatible interfaces makes uniform monitoring, hardening and patch management difficult. Industrial and field installations, such as vehicles, weapon control systems, energy supply systems and image and sound transmission systems, are often designed for availability rather than security.

In addition to these technical issues, risks in the supply chain must also be considered. Components from international supply chains may contain manipulative firmware or hardware. A lack of transparency regarding suppliers and component origins increases the risk of government or criminal influence. Fragmented responsibilities can create further organizational challenges. Defence ministries, industry partners and procurement agencies have different security requirements and responsibilities, which can impede coordinated decision-making.

Although budget increases and special funds offer opportunities, they also lead to pressure to deliver visible results quickly within tight time frames for large investment programmes. Many critical components, such as semiconductors, routers, encryption hardware and specialized embedded modules, come from international supply chains. Political tensions, sanctions and export controls can delay or prevent deliveries and support. Under time pressure, procurement professionals may be forced to choose between components with fast delivery

times and those with secure designs. In the worst case, the option of fast delivery may be delayed due to new political motives or unforeseen dependencies in the supply chain.

Why

are testing procedures an essential component of modern security architectures?

State threat actors and cyber criminals are taking increasingly harsh measures. This is why regular security testing is so important; it uncovers potential vulnerabilities. Security tests are essential for the early detection and prevention of cyber-attacks. Systems and applications must be tested before they go live. They should also be checked at regular intervals and after major changes. Security tests provide contextual evidence of which vulnerabilities are exploitable and mission critical. This allows for efficient resource allocation instead of blind repairs. Although security can be well planned, developed and implemented based on strict security guidelines, many security gaps can only be identified when the system or application – with all its interfaces and dependencies – is analysed in a functioning test environment.

Which test procedures does infodas use?

The defence sector requires a variety of specialized testing methods tailored to the scenario, system class and protection requirements. These include automated vulnerability scans, vulnerability analyses, configuration audits, cloud and container security assessments, wireless and radio frequency security

Lead Security Tester, infodas

Aaron Brown

tests, information security penetration tests, operational technology, industrial control systems security checks and realistic red team operations.

As part of the ongoing development of project-related IT security concepts for weapon systems, regular delta analyses should also be carried out. At the same time, hardening and penetration tests are performed on basic infrastructure and applications. Weapon systems are typically complex networks of information with hundreds of systems and mission-critical, real-time applications. Because the availability of these systems is crucial for operations, we use the Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual (OSSTMM) to begin with passive techniques and progressively increase the attack intensity in-line with dependable checklists.

What characterizes infodas’ security tests?

Thanks to our long-standing and trusted cooperation with the defence sector, authorities and organizations responsible for security, we focus on operational security. Our test results consider specific threat scenarios, manually verified vulnerabilities and secure countermeasures. We minimize operational disruptions through comprehensive planning, communication with stakeholders, a test lab for secure exploit development, step-by-step impact

testing and planned rollback mechanisms. Our reports are forensically reproducible, meaning exploits are clearly documented with verifiable screenshots and commands. Network recordings and time-stamped evidence support traceability. We conduct our tests and risk assessments in accordance with BSI standards, as well as clear guidelines such as OSSTMM, OWASP, MITRE, CVSS and internal German Armed Forces or NATO specifications.

What relevant insights can be gained from the test methods?

First and foremost, we enhance the operational readiness and resilience of the systems we test. Our security tests reveal realistic attack and failure paths, ensuring that systems remain mission ready. Eliminating vulnerabilities proactively also avoids costly emergency remediation, replacement of large hardware inventories and operational disruptions. Security testing provides an efficient method for preparing systems for NATO accreditation.

How will security testing develop in the coming years, particularly with regard to the digitalization of the armed forces?

Although artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly prevalent in our daily lives, we do not believe that it, or automation, can replace the human in

the loop. The risks in sensitive areas are too great, environments are often difficult to access and solutions are too specific. Conversely, we are seeing an increase in the use of container solutions and private cloud environments, which require specific testing methods and attack vectors. Additionally, vulnerabilities in satellites and other wireless technologies are being discovered more frequently. This means that new testing methods are needed to protect multi-domain operations in the future. We will, of course, be involved in this process to provide the appropriate methods.

BEYOND THE FIREWALL

CYBER EFFECTS IN MULTI-DOMAIN OPERATIONS

The Chief of the NATO Cyber Security Centre, Luc Dandurand, explores the role of proactive cyberspace operations within a multi-domain strategy, explaining how cyber effects are synchronized with actions across all domains to create a decisive advantage

The concept of multi-domain operations (MDO) formalizes NATO’s shift to an approach that synchronizes military actions across all domains (air, land, maritime, space and cyberspace) with non-military activities to create a combined advantage.

Much work is being done within the Alliance to fully implement the MDO concept and to have cyber achieve parity with the other domains in terms of operational integration. This is actually far more complex than it may seem. This transformation is also often hindered by traditional thinking that is not sufficiently forward-looking. Yet good progress is being made, particularly with the stand-up of the NATO Integrated Cyber Defence Centre.

Differences in effects and usage

For the physical domains (air, land, maritime and space), effects centred on applying force to neutralize

capabilities and diminish the will to fight are governed by the laws of physics. The cyber domain is also evidently subject to the laws of physics, but it consists of the electro-magnetic transmission, storage and processing of data. It connects to ‘physical space’ through cyber-physical systems that provide various means of actuation, and through user interfaces to support human cognition. Traditional concepts of terrain and mobility, visibility and camouflage, range and ballistics, and penetration and blast radius, which are mastered by all military practitioners, have no direct equivalent in cyberspace.

Looking first at generating effects in physical space, cyber means can only neutralize physical space capabilities through cyber-physical systems. Given that most of these implement specific functionality, possible effects can be quite limited

and rarely have the neutralization power that conventional munitions have in physical space. Also, effectiveness of actions as well as secondand third-order effects are generally far more complex and difficult to predict.

Within cyberspace itself, cyber effects seek to compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data and systems, and through this, human cognitive abilities as well as system automation. These can either affect the ability or will to fight, increase the probability of success of physical space effects, or reduce the effectiveness of enemy systems or actions. In the case of a powerful cyberattack, all of these may happen at the same time.

While we easily recognize boundaries and alien presence in physical space, cyberspace is far more interconnected and shared, entailing a wide range of actors and complex ‘ownership’ considerations. There is no equivalent to a geopolitical border in cyberspace. Threat actors with significant capabilities can emerge from within ‘our’ cyberspace, and strike without warning by exploiting previously unknown vulnerabilities and by pre-positioning. Cyber defenders must have the ability to very rapidly detect, understand and counter cyber-attacks that very often have a surprise element with virtually no equivalent in the physical domains

Broader differences

Many other differences affect operational planning and employment and must be taken into consideration for effective MDO. For example, whereas physical weapons are generally very similar, there is much less commonality between cyber weapons. In cyberspace, target systems vary widely from one country to the next and mostly require customized cyber weapons.

In the physical arena, we count forces and try to match or exceed them, and a defender’s task is proportional to its geography, population and resources. In cyberspace, a defender’s task is proportional to its reliance on technology. Peer competitors are as vulnerable to each other in physical space, but perhaps not in cyberspace if one relies more on digital systems. Moreover, the challenge of assessing an adversary’s capability means it is extremely difficult to right-size an effective defensive force.

Whereas physical space, including NATO facilities, is defended militarily by the Allies themselves, NATO has ‘land’ in cyberspace that it needs to defend with its staff. To do so, NCIA employs ‘cyber soldiers’ to operate security controls and conduct defensive cyber operations. Although the ‘soldier’ analogy is not perfect, it helps illustrate a distinct characteristic of the cyber domain and the importance of NCIA and its capabilities.

“NCIA employs ‘cyber soldiers’ to operate security controls and conduct defensive cyber operations”

Finally, consider the incursion of fighter jets in the airspace of a NATO country. All Alliance members know the response that needs to be taken. But how should the Alliance respond to the discovery of pre-positioned malicious code, for example, in a dam whose water threatens a city? Should the response reach into the attacker’s cyberspace? Since there are few established norms on how to respond to cyber-attacks and a wide range of capabilities to be considered, operational planners have much new ground to break to deter and defend in cyberspace.

As MDO seeks to synchronize traditional effects in physical space with the full range of possible cyber effects, operational integration parity across all domains will be reached when all command levels have an intuitive understanding and professional mastery of the peculiarities of the cyber domain, the operational parameters of the available capabilities and the specificities of potential targets.

IT security versus cyber as a domain Cyber security is often still treated as an information technology (IT) issue. Upon discovery of a compromise, most, if not all, pursue the fastest path to threat eradication and service restoration. There needs to be recognition that a security compromise is equivalent to ‘making contact with the enemy’. Infantry infrequently withdraws from such events; why is it so in cyber? Why not maintain contact with the enemy to draw out their cyber weapons, understand their ultimate intent, consume their capacity, feed them misinformation and trace their attack for a counter-cyber strike?

In addition, commercial IT systems built for peacetime business activities are sometimes used as components of our command and control (C2) systems. Business continuity is considered, but generally for scenarios far short of war. Yet, in land warfare, we procure expensive armoured vehicles capable of serving their purpose under fire rather than use civilian-type vehicles. There is a need for more robust IT systems capable of delivering their services while engaged in cyber combat.

As implied above, cyber is asymmetric, enabling less-resourced actors to inflict disproportionately large damage on more powerful nations that are heavily reliant on digital systems. As NATO reinforces its deterrence and defence posture, it is vital to remember our significant reliance on digital systems for a very large number of critical societal functions and to keep a very open and future-proof view of what may happen. There is no precedent for our advanced digital societies to be attacked in cyberspace by a peer competitor conducting MDO itself. Since cyber is now a domain of operations, all NATO staff must realize this is no longer about IT security.

Looking ahead

NCIA has adopted a more proactive and operational stance in the latest reorganization of the NATO Cyber Security Centre, standing up a dedicated branch to plan and support defensive cyber operations, and increasing its attention to the cyber resilience of C2 systems in anticipation of increased cyber-attacks. NATO exercises are rapidly gaining maturity in the incorporation of realistic cyber elements in MDO, and NCIA is asked to play a larger role to ensure the cyber resilience of C2 systems is properly exercised.

With the stand-up of the NATO Integrated Cyber Defence Centre (NICC) announced at the Washington Summit in 2024, critical actors are being integrated closer together, within NATO and with Allies and industry. While NCIA protects NATO’s networks, the NICC gives the Alliance the construct under which defensive cyber operations can be executed across NATO and connected national systems that support Allied missions and operations. This enables NATO cyber operators and their counterparts in cyber commands, national cyber-security centres, critical infrastructure operators and industry to work closely together with shared situational awareness and at the speed of relevance. In its efforts to increase defensive cyber capabilities in an MDO context, NCIA seeks to work more closely with the operational planning community to best employ its specialist resources and increase the cyber resilience of the Alliance.

DIGITAL TWINS THE ROAD TO A

BATTLESPACE

DIGITAL TWIN

Dr Jan Hodicky, Modelling and Simulation SME at Allied Command Transformation, explains the difference between digital models, digital shadows and digital twins to highlight the benefits digital twins could make to military operations in the future

“ Digital twin technology has become a cornerstone of Industry 4.0, transforming how decisions are made, how products are designed, and how maintenance and production processes are optimized through predictive insights”

NASA was one of the first to apply the concept of the digital twin during the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, using digital replicas of spacecraft to simulate systems in real-time for troubleshooting and mission management. The term ‘digital twin’ itself was later popularized by Dr Michael Grieves in the context of manufacturing, where it began to shape how complex products and processes were monitored and optimized. Since then, digital twin technology has rapidly advanced and expanded into a wide range of industries. It has become a cornerstone of Industry 4.0, transforming how decisions are made, how products are designed, and how maintenance and production processes are optimized through predictive insights.

What exactly is a digital twin?

The term ‘digital twin’ is often overused and misunderstood. To truly grasp what a digital twin is, it is helpful to distinguish it from two related but distinct concepts: digital model and digital shadow. Understanding the progression from model to shadow to twin brings much-needed clarity.

A digital model is a static or dynamic digital representation of a physical object, system or process. However, it operates in isolation, with no automated data exchange between the physical and digital entities. Any updates or changes in the physical world must be manually reflected in the model.

A digital shadow introduces automated, one-way data flow from physical to digital object. In this case, any

change in the physical object is automatically reflected in its digital counterpart. However, the reverse is not true; changes made in digital representation do not influence the physical object. It is a passive form of synchronization.

A true digital twin features bidirectional, asynchronous or synchronous data flow between the physical and digital counterparts. This creates a dynamic, responsive and integrated loop enabling simulation, optimization and decision-making in real-time.

By distinguishing between these three stages, we gain a clearer and more precise understanding of what makes a digital twin unique. It is not just a visual or analytical model, but a living synchronized system that mirrors and interacts with its real-world counterpart.

So, where are we with digital twins in the military domain? There are very limited examples of a digital twin with bidirectional exchange of information. Many defence use cases of digital twin systems are primarily for monitoring, training, simulation and design and acquisition rather than full operational bidirectional control in contested environments. Most of the time, the military applications of digital twins fall under the digital shadow category.

So how could digital shadows be used in the military domain when scaled up? In the context of computerassisted exercises (CAX), a digital shadow can play a vital role by enhancing realism and insight. During training or field exercises, military units, platforms and sensors can continuously stream performance, state and

telemetry data into a central digital model. This model serves as a live reflection of actual activity, aggregating and archiving data from a wide range of assets such as vehicles, aircraft, command posts and surveillance systems throughout the scenario. The collected data enables a much richer after-action review process, where commanders and participants can access detailed analytics, performance metrics and dashboards that highlight what went right and what went wrong. Unlike traditional synthetic models, which often rely on assumed or idealized behaviours, the digital shadow captures how real systems performed, including communication latencies and mechanical failures.

In computer-assisted wargames (CAW), a digital shadow adds significant value by injecting real-time or near-real-time data from operational or simulated assets directly into the wargame environment.

This ensures participants work with a highly realistic operational picture, including platform readiness, sensor status and logistics conditions. The wargame scenario can adjust dynamically based on this data. For instance, if a radar system in the field becomes degraded, that change is reflected in the simulation, affecting detection capabilities. By grounding the wargame in real-world asset performance, the digital shadow enables decision-makers to test alternative courses of action under more authentic conditions. This leads to deeper insight into operational risks, better-informed planning and more credible outcomes than would be possible with purely synthetic models.

Monte Carlo methods

In simulation-based analysis (SBA), a digital shadow provides a valuable foundation by supplying large volumes of historical data from real assets. It can cover platform usage patterns, sensor performance, failure rates and logistics flows. This real-world data enables analysts to run more accurate simulations, including Monte Carlo methods – a computational technique that relies on random sampling to estimate numerical outcomes – ‘what-if’ scenarios, and Design of Experiment-driven studies related to force structure, deployment strategies and logistics planning. For instance, analysts can use real asset readiness and failure data to determine how many spare parts are needed, where to locate logistics hubs or how quickly certain platforms can be surged into operation. Again, by grounding analysis in actual operational data, the digital shadow helps bridge the gap between idealized synthetic models and real-world behaviour, improving the credibility and relevance of simulation outcomes.

As far as the most complex applications are concerned, in a real-time operational setting, a digital shadow continuously collects data from platforms,

sensors, logistics systems and intelligence feeds, streaming it into a centralized environment such as a dashboard or analytics platform. This enables commanders and staff to maintain situational awareness, including platform availability, sensor degradation, logistics status and, within certain limits, even adversary behaviour forecasts based on historical patterns. The digital shadow can also deliver decision support alerts. For example, flagging an asset that shows signs of impending failure and recommending a maintenance action. This enables planners to adapt while operations are ongoing, rerouting assets, reallocating sensors or adjusting force posture in response to the real conditions.

From digital shadow to digital twin

When the system evolves from a digital shadow to a full digital twin with real-time, bidirectional communication, the impact on real-time operations support becomes far more transformative. Instead of simply providing data and recommendations to human operators, the digital twin can actively influence and control physical assets based on its simulations and analyses. This means that insights gained from the virtual model, such as detecting an asset at risk of failure, could automatically trigger maintenance procedures, reroute platforms or adjust sensor allocations without waiting for human intervention. Such autonomous or semi-autonomous control enables faster, more precise responses to dynamic operational conditions, reducing reaction times and potentially preventing failures or mission disruptions before they occur. It also allows for continuous optimization of force posture and resource allocation based on real-time feedback loops between the virtual and physical domains. However, this increased automation demands rigorous validation, as well as trust in the system, to ensure that decisions made by the digital twin align with command intent and operational priorities. Ultimately, a bidirectional digital twin transforms real-time operations support from a primarily advisory tool into an active, adaptive partner in mission execution.

The military domain is still waiting for the moment when full-scale digital twin implementation becomes a reality. Although progress has been made at the platform level, true operational impact requires scaling these capabilities to the tactical and operational levels. Promising approaches are emerging, particularly the concept of system-ofsystems of digital twins and aggregation mechanisms that can integrate individual platform digital twins into a coherent battlespace representation. These innovations could bring us closer to a fully integrated, responsive digital twin of the battlespace. But the truth remains that we are not there yet.

INNOVATION TAKES FLIGHT

THE SAPIENCE DRONE CHALLENGE

NITECH technology journalist Eve Michell asks Dr Bryan Mesmer from The University of Alabama, Huntsville about the SAPIENCE drone competition

“You’re at the start line, you hit the button, and that’s it. Hands off the controller,” says Dr Bryan Mesmer, project co-director and department chair at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. That’s the challenge facing a multinational group of university students taking part in the SAPIENCE competition –an initiative designed to advance the state-of-the-art in cooperative, autonomous drones.

SAPIENCE – Sense & Avoid, a cooperative drone competition – is a three-year theoretical/practical drone research programme validated with technology competitions. The programme is led by City St George’s, University of London, which fields its own team alongside teams from The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Austria’s University of Klagenfurt and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

Supported by the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme, the competition has multiple aims. One of these is to encourage and incentivize students to problem solve in real-time and develop innovative drone technology solutions. “You need these young creative minds from the students to really be able to push the boundaries,” says Dr Mesmer. “We made it complex on purpose… not to make something the

students could easily win, but to make something really hard that would get them thinking out of the box.”

Developing the next generation of drone technology and talent

The three annual SAPIENCE competitions test a range of drone capabilities. Among them, the ability to recognize objects, navigate confined spaces, map unfamiliar environments and communicate with other drones. The first competition, hosted by City St George’s, University of London, focused on indoor mapping and object detection, simulated by a staged apartment and mannequins for the drones to locate and identify.

The second, hosted at Dr Mesmer’s home university, tested outdoor mapping and reactions to rapid-fire tasks. “Phase one looked at mapping an entire outdoor area of a nine-acre plot of land, but phase two was crazy hard,” he recounts. “One of the tasks was to count the number of mannequins standing up and lying down. Another task was to track individuals walking in and out of a building, with the idea that in a real-life rescue mission scenario, you need to track the number of respondents going in and out of a collapsed building.”

Much of the technology that the students are experimenting with is highly novel and still in its

infancy. The teams used algorithms to position their drone using object detection – but this revealed weaknesses. In one case, a drone registered what it categorized as a stationary object, a red car, to help it navigate. It (the red car) soon began to move, throwing off the drone’s mapping.

Applying drone innovations to real-world search and rescue scenarios

Object recognition is critical in real-world drone applications, and achieved by training AI to recognize certain objects. The competition tested the students’ use of AI-enabled object detection using mannequins to represent people in compromised situations, such as the aftermath of natural disasters. “We specifically built the Huntsville competition around tornadoes, as we get a flurry of them in the spring and the fall here in the south-east United States. It’s part of our broader goal of advancing drones for search and rescue (SAR) scenarios, so we designed the whole scenario around that.” says Dr Mesmer. Using autonomous drones in disaster areas means that SAR teams can minimize human exposure to these highly dangerous environments.

The next frontier for aeronautics engineers to tackle is enabling drones to communicate with other drones and the teams operating them. In theory, this could improve mission safety by notifying SAR teams of further hazards or previously unidentified crisis victims. “There’s still a lot of research that needs to be done to make that work flawlessly. We saw glimpses of it occurring at the Huntsville competition, but the teams are still pretty far off,” confirms Dr Mesmer.

SAPIENCE competition drives cross-border collaboration

Bringing together teams from different countries furthers another of NATO’s aims: to encourage multinational teams to network and collaborate. “We really wanted to get these multinational teams talking to one another, so that after the competition –and even during the competition – they’re helping

each other. Building collaboration among four very different countries has been a great outcome.”

The goal of encouraging connections among teams was met organically: as well as assisting one another during the competition, the students socialised and continued communicating between rounds of the competition using Discord channel chat rooms.

This ethos of uniting different perspectives extended to the chosen panel of judges, too. “We try to make the judges as multinational and interdisciplinary as we can,” Dr Mesmer stresses. Judges from NATO, academia and industry bring diverse points of view, offering feedback rooted in real-world experience from military operations to aerospace engineering.

Their judges’ roles are both to score the teams as well as to mentor them. “The real point of the judges was to give insight,” Dr Mesmer explains. “We want them to say, ‘We saw this in the Army, we saw this in Boeing – here’s our solution.’”

International innovation culminates in Delft Spring 2026 will see the final round of the competition taking place in the Netherlands, hosted by Delft University of Technology. This concluding competition will combine the scenarios tested in the first two rounds, challenging the teams to see how the drones cope with the transition from outdoor to indoor environments. As the teams prepare for the final challenge, the competition’s cumulative nature will push their systems to the limit – testing not only technical capability but adaptability and resilience.

But beyond the technical hurdles, the SAPIENCE challenge has become a proving ground for the next generation of innovators, and a case study for the importance of real-life testing. “It’s one thing to do a research project in a lab that’s fully controlled, and it’s another thing to throw it onto a cornfield and see what happens when the red car goes by. That’s the real value of these competitions.” says Dr Mesmer.

Long-lasting connections among teams were forged during the first rounds of SAPIENCE. The final round will take place in spring 2026 (PHOTO: JEFF WHITE PHOTOGRAPHER)

AI-BASED LESSONS LEARNED TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVING COMPLEX SYSTEMS

Associate Professor Dr Cem Sen from the J7 Evaluation and Lessons Learned Branch of NCISG reveals how AI can be used in capturing and storing ‘lessons learned’ to improve multifaceted and complex systems

The incorporation of artificial intelligence into knowledge-management systems has fundamentally transformed the methodologies through which organizations capture, archive and leverage ‘lessons learned’ (LL). AI-based LL platforms have emerged as formidable instruments for fostering continuous learning and enhancement, particularly within intricate systems. These platforms exploit sophisticated technologies such as machine learning, natural language processing (NLP) and generative AI to derive significant insights from extensive datasets, thereby enabling organizations to make judicious decisions and avoid the recurrence of errors.

The role of AI in capturing and storing LL AI-base systems are instrumental in the processes of capturing and storing LL through the automation of knowledge acquisition and organization.

Conventional methodologies for capturing LL frequently depend on manual entries, which can be labour-intensive, time-consuming and prone to errors. In contrast, AI possesses the capability to analyse substantial volumes of data, identify patterns and extract pertinent information from unstructured sources such as project documentation, incident reports and user feedback.

A principal advantage of AI within this framework lies in its proficiency in managing both structured and unstructured data. For example, NLP methodologies can be employed to scrutinize textual data from incident reports, extracting critical insights and categorizing them into a structured schema. Moreover, machine-learning algorithms can be utilized to detect trends and forecast potential challenges, thereby facilitating proactive decision-making.

The integration of AI with knowledge-management systems further enables the establishment of centralized knowledge repositories. These repositories are accessible to professionals throughout an organization, thereby

fostering a culture of knowledge sharing and perpetual learning. Additionally, AI can augment the user experience by delivering personalized recommendations and enabling precise searches, thus simplifying the process for users to locate relevant information.

Retrieval and application of LL

The retrieval and application of LL constitute essential elements of AI-based portals. AI technologies such as case-based reasoning (CBR) and generative AI can be employed to extract pertinent lessons from the knowledge repository and apply them to contemporary challenges. CBR, for instance, involves the retrieval of similar cases from the knowledge base and the adaptation of their solutions to fit new contexts.

Conversely, generative AI can be utilized to synthesize novel knowledge by integrating existing LL with real-time data. This methodology facilitates the generation of dynamic and context-specific recommendations, which can prove especially advantageous in complex and rapidly evolving environments. For example, in the transportation domain, generative AI can be employed to anticipate traffic incidents and furnish real-time recommendations to mitigate their impacts.

The implementation of LL is further augmented through the utilization of AI-based decision support systems. These systems can scrutinize a given issue’s contextual elements and furnish users with implementable recommendations derived from historical data and established best practices. Furthermore, AI can promote the dissemination of lessons learned across various projects and teams, thereby fostering an environment conducive to collaboration and ongoing enhancement.

Continuous learning and improvement in complex systems

The processes of continuous learning and improvement are paramount to the efficacy of complex systems,

Associate Professor Cem Sen and his AI LL team assembled at the NCISG (PHOTO: NATO)

wherein the capability to adjust to evolving circumstances and derive insights from historical experiences is of utmost importance. AI-based LL portals assume a pivotal role in facilitating these endeavours by offering a systematic methodology for the acquisition, storage and application of knowledge.

A significant challenge inherent in complex systems is the administration of knowledge amid uncertainty and incomplete information. AI-based systems can effectively tackle this challenge by synthesizing information from diverse sources and presenting a comprehensive perspective of the system. For instance, within the electric power sector, AI can be employed to evaluate data from multiple sources, including operational metrics and incident documentation, to discern patterns and trends that may inform strategic decision-making.

Another crucial dimension of continuous learning and improvement is the capacity to extract lessons from failures. AI-based systems can facilitate this process by examining incident reports and identifying the root causes of failures. This approach not only aids in the avoidance of recurrent errors, but also empowers organizations to establish more robust and resilient systems; in other words, a learning organization necessitates such approaches.

The importance of databases in AI-based LL portals Databases constitute an essential element of AI-based LL portals, as they establish the groundwork for the storage and management of knowledge. The architecture of these databases must be both robust and scalable to effectively accommodate the substantial quantities of data generated within complex systems.

One significant factor in the design of databases for LL portals is the capability to process both structured and unstructured data. This necessitates the employment of advanced data management techniques, such as natural language processing and machine learning, to extract insights from unstructured data and integrate them into the knowledge repository. Moreover, the database must be constructed with an emphasis on user accessibility, providing intuitive interfaces for the efficient searching and retrieval of information.

The integration of AI with databases also facilitates the automation of knowledge management processes, such as data classification, tagging and retrieval. For instance, machine-learning algorithms can be utilized to categorize LL into distinct classifications based on their content and relevance. This strategy not only enhances the efficiency of knowledge management but also enriches the user

experience by offering tailored recommendations and enabling precise searches.

Future development

Although AI-based LL portals present substantial advantages, numerous challenges must be addressed to fully actualize their potential. A primary challenge pertains to the quality and accuracy of data. AI systems are contingent upon the quality of the data utilized for their training; consequently, poor-quality data can result in biased or erroneous outcomes. Additionally, a crucial challenge lies in the necessity for systematic evaluation and maintenance of knowledge bases. As knowledge bases expand and progress, it becomes imperative to establish processes for assessing the relevance and accuracy of the information they encompass. This requires the application of advanced AI techniques, such as automated validation and updating of knowledge, to ensure that the information remains up-to-date and pertinent.

Future scholarly endeavours should concentrate on exploring these challenges and investigating novel applications of AI within knowledge management. For instance, the integration of generative AI with LL portals could enable the creation of dynamic and context-specific advice, further enhancing their value to users. Furthermore, the advancement of more sophisticated decision-support systems could assist organizations in optimizing the utilization of the knowledge embedded in their portals.

Overcoming critical challenges

AI-based LL portals signify a considerable enhancement in knowledge management, and provide organizations with a potent instrument for continuous learning and improvement. By harnessing advanced technologies such as machine learning, natural language processing and generative AI, these portals can efficiently and effectively capture, store and retrieve knowledge. Their capability to furnish personalized recommendations and facilitate precise searches renders them an invaluable asset for professionals operating within complex systems.

Nevertheless, the effectiveness of AI-based LL portals is contingent upon the resolution of critical challenges such as data integrity, systematic evaluation and maintenance. Future research should prioritize overcoming these challenges and exploring innovative applications of AI in knowledge management, as there is no doubt that AI-based LL portals are likely to play an increasingly significant role in fostering continuous learning and enhancement within complex systems. For a full list of the reference materials please contact the author at cem.sen@nato.int

BUILDING THE WORKFORCE FOR NATO’S DIGITAL FUTURE

NCIA Recruitment Lead Thomas Breach provides a closing perspective on attracting the next generation of talent. He outlines the strategy for finding the diverse and highly skilled individuals needed for a multi-domain future and officially tees up the launch of the 2026 internship campaign

As I have the privilege to conclude this edition of NITECH, it is worth reflecting on a fundamental truth: technology alone does not secure NATO’s mission –people do. NCIA’s ability to deliver multi-domain capabilities across air, land, sea, cyber and space depends on attracting and retaining exceptional talent. This is not simply a recruitment challenge; it is a strategic imperative.

The strategic importance of talent

Our operational environment is evolving rapidly. The complexity of NATO’s digital backbone demands professionals who combine technical expertise with adaptability, creativity and a collaborative mindset. Diversity of thought and experience is not optional, it is essential to innovation and resilience. By bringing together individuals from varied disciplines and backgrounds, we strengthen our ability to anticipate threats, design robust solutions and deliver capabilities that meet the needs of the Alliance’s 32 nations in order to secure peace. For NCIA, this underscores a critical point: talent acquisition is not a transactional process. It is an investment in our agency’s future readiness. Every intern onboarded represents an opportunity to embed new skills, fresh perspectives and innovative approaches into our organizational culture.

The NCIA Internship Programme

One of the most effective mechanisms for building this pipeline is the NCIA Internship Programme. Now entering its third year in its new form, the programme has proven its value, not only in attracting high-potential individuals but also in shaping them into contributors who understand the complexity and purpose of our mission.

Internships benefit the interns as well as NCIA. Interns gain hands-on experience in areas ranging from cyber security and satellite communications to AI and project management. The experience offers exposure to international collaboration and the chance to contribute to projects that matter.

For NCIA, interns bring energy, new ideas and diversity, enhancing productivity and innovation across our organizational elements. The breadth of opportunities extends far beyond technology: opportunities exist in legal services, procurement, human resources, finance and strategic communications, functions that are critical to enabling NCIA’s operational success. The variety of internships ensures that students from multiple disciplines can find a meaningful entry point into the organization and add value from the start.

Scaling ambition for 2026 and beyond In 2026, we are expanding the programme to 60 positions across our campuses in The Hague, Brussels, Mons, Oeiras,

and, for the first time, Brunssum. This growth reflects both demand and success: applications have increased year on year, with representation from all NATO Nations and near gender parity. To maintain quality, we are refining our selection process through enhanced assessments, including gamified evaluations and on-demand video interviews, ensuring we identify candidates who demonstrate not only technical competence but also resilience and collaborative potential.

Beyond the initial six-month placement, high-performing interns may transition to an Internship Temporary Personnel (ITP) position, hereby extending their tenure for up to 24 months in a graded post (pending funding). This approach enables us to retain talent, deepen their expertise and prepare them for future roles within NCIA or the broader NATO community. In 2025, more than 95% of eligible interns continued with us under this mode – a clear indicator of its effectiveness.

Creating community: the Next Gen Forum

To further strengthen engagement, we have introduced the Next Gen Forum, a platform that brings together new interns from across NCIA to connect with peers, current ITPs and senior leaders. This initiative fosters networking, knowledge sharing and mentorship, ensuring that interns feel part of a cohesive community from day one. It is not only about onboarding; it is about building relationships that last and creating a culture where ideas can thrive.

Internships are no longer peripheral activities; they are integral to workforce strategy. They enable us to address immediate capability needs while cultivating the next generation of leaders. For interns, the experience offers more than technical development, it provides a sense of purpose. Working at NCIA means contributing to the security and stability of the Alliance. It is an opportunity to apply skills in a context where outcomes matter on a global scale. We acknowledge the challenges, including the time required for security clearance and the competitive nature of the talent market. Yet, what we offer is unique: a mission-driven environment where innovation serves peace and security. For those who value impact over convenience, this is a compelling proposition.

As we prepare to launch the 2026 Internship Campaign in February, our message is clear: NCIA is committed to attracting, developing and retaining talent that reflects the diversity and dynamism of the Alliance we serve. For NCIA, this is an opportunity to champion initiatives that strengthen our workforce and ensure operational readiness. For potential applicants, it is an invitation to join a community where their skills can make a difference and an opportunity to enhance their career within the NATO community.

NITECH

NATO INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY

ISSUE 14 | DECEMBER 2025

Editors

Lara Vincent-Young and Simon Michell

Project Manager

Andrew Howard

Editorial Director

Emily Eastman

Art Direction

Errol Konat

Layout

Billy Odell

Contributing Photographers

Marcos Fernandez Marin, Conrad Dijkstra, Francesc Nogueras Sancho

Printed by Micropress Printers Ltd

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© 2025. The views and opinions, expressed by independent (non-NATO) authors, contributors and commentators in this publication, are provided in their personal capacities and are their sole responsibility. Publication thereof, does not imply that they represent the views or opinions of NCIA, NATO or Global Media Partners (GMP) and must neither be regarded as constituting advice on any matter whatsoever, nor be interpreted as such. References in this publication to any company or organization, as well as their products and services, do not constitute or imply any direct or indirect endorsement, recommendation or preference by NCIA, NATO or GMP. Furthermore, the reproduction of advertisements in this publication does not in any way imply endorsement by NCIA, NATO or GMP of products or services referred to therein.