French-made command-and-control system challenges NATO’s reliance on Palantir

The France-based defense technology giant Thales has launched a sovereign command-and-control system that could replace Palantir’s battlefield tech.

HexaForce was unveiled on September 17th as an AI-powered, sovereign command-and-control system (C2) for NATO and allied nations.

The system is built on an “interoperable architecture co-designed with armed forces” and operates across all operational domains, including land, air, sea, cyber, the electromagnetic spectrum, space, and information operations, according to Thales.

HexaForce coordinates existing systems across national armed forces and coalitions and can support over 100,000 personnel in situations requiring “the extensive, targeted deployment of AI” during high-intensity warfare.

The C2 system integrates Thales’ AI accelerator, CortAIx, and “automates the analysis, correlation, and prioritization of massive data streams from military, open-source, and civilian origins, significantly boosting military agility and tempo.”

HexaForce was already tested during the NATO Coalition Warrior Interoperability Exercise, which took place between June 2nd and 20th, 2026.

Thales says live trial phases will pave the way for full-scale deployment of HexaForce, which could increase the targeting capacity from 100 to 1,000 targets processed per day.

HexaForce vs Palantir MSS

Thales refrains from marketing HexaForce as a direct rival to Palantir’s Maven Smart (MSS) System, currently used by NATO, an AI-powered platform that connects command-and-control systems across the NATO enterprise and supports any AI model.

The Alliance announced in March 2026 that its customized MSS had achieved "its full technical operational capability” following extensive testing and was granted full security accreditation to operate on NATO’s classified network.

HexaForce launches as Europeans strive to achieve digital sovereignty from the US. Governments are planning to replace, or have already replaced, American productivity suites, cloud providers, and other foreign software with local alternatives.

Paris and Berlin recently pledged to build a European alternative to Palantir’s battlefield software in an effort to ensure data privacy. The promise came amid testing of Arcadia, an AI-powered battlefield, developed by Thales and other French companies.

Erwan Halna du Fretay, a defense analyst, writes that HexaForce isn’t reproducing the MSS NATO model. Instead, it is built around a distributed data network that helps preserve information access even when communications are heavily degraded.

In addition, the French system would reduce dependence on a single central node, while retaining processing capacity closer to deployed command posts.

“Control over data flows also remains with the user, an issue of particular relevance to European armed forces seeking to maintain digital sovereignty while remaining compatible with coalition networks,” Halna du Fretay writes for Army Recognition.

While European civilians are enthusiastic about digital sovereignty – 82% support reducing tech reliance on foreign countries – military leaders are less willing to break up with American technologies.

Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, warned in May 2026 that there was no “real competitor for Palantir.” Speaking to Politico, he urged Europeans to provide substitutes to American tech “in months or years,” not a decade.

Some European defense officials and contractors worry that cutting reliance on US tech may leave Europe with inferior systems, make it more vulnerable to cyberattacks, and weaken NATO data sharing, The Financial Times reported in September 2026.