Spain blacklists Palantir while NATO embraces its Maven Smart System

The Spanish government has begun blacklisting Palantir Technologies from public contracts, days after NATO announced that its Maven Smart System (MSS) has come into full operational capability.​

The Spanish government is instructing state-owned enterprises to ban the US company Palantir Technologies from public contracts, according to a report by El Confidencial, which Cybernews machine-translated.

Sources say the ban stems from concerns about the company’s software handling classified information linked to national security.

The primary targets of the ban are public and private companies controlled by the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI), the state-owned holding and sovereign wealth fund.

The government under Pedro Sanchez, however, didn’t announce a formal ban on Palantir Technologies, while the country’s defense agency is said to continue talks with the Miami-based company over renewing and expanding existing agreements.

The move comes as European countries are reducing their dependence on American technologies, motivated by concerns over data privacy and the potential “kill switch,” which refers to the US government's decision to disable American technologies for Europeans.

Palantir Technologies itself is a highly controversial company due to its collaboration with the Israeli government and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, both of which are accused of human rights violations.

NATO turns to Palantir for “digital transformation”

Meanwhile, NATO, with Spain among its members, announced that MSS operations began on June 22nd, 2026, calling it “a major milestone in the Alliance’s digital transformation,” according to a press release.

NATO Assistant Secretary General for Cyber and Digital Transformation, Ambassador Jean-Charles Ellermann-Kingomber, said that data “more than ever” is a strategic asset.

“Our ability to share it in a secure way, governed by common standards, while respecting national sovereignty, strengthening trust, and enhancing operational coherence will be critical for our warfighters,” he is quoted as saying.

MSS is an AI-powered command-and-control software platform that analyzes battlefield ​data and identifies targets. It can quickly analyze large amounts of data from satellites, drones, radars, sensors, and intelligence reports.

According to NATO, MSS supports any AI model, starting with France’s Mistral AI and Meta Platforms in the US, with additional models planned.

In addition, the system received full security accreditation from the NATO Security Accreditation Board, making it suitable for operation on the Alliance’s classified network.

“This gives us full authorization to operate NATO MSS for everything, including exercises, missions, and activities. What we built is about making peace more secure,” said US Army Colonel Arnel David, TF Maven director.

Experts warn against AI weapon systems

NATO employs MSS amid growing concerns over the use of AI-powered weapon systems, which critics claim maximize destruction and endanger civilians.

The United Nations called for the ban of “killer robots” in 2025, saying that lethal autonomous weapons are “politically unacceptable, morally repugnant.”

Palantir claims that humans remain responsible for selecting and approving targets. However, human judgment may not always keep pace with the increasing speed of destruction caused by autonomous systems.

Outputs of the AI-powered system, “Lavander,” used by the Israeli forces in Gaza to identify targets, were treated “as if they were a human decision,” according to sources from the Israeli military directly involved in the Gaza war.

During the early stages of the conflict, this led to sweeping approval for officers to adopt Lavender’s kill lists, with no requirement to thoroughly check why the machine made those choices.

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