Most EU defense agencies rely on US cloud providers and are vulnerable to a “kill switch”
Defense agencies in most European countries appear to rely on American cloud providers aligned with the Donald Trump administration, raising concerns about their vulnerability to a “kill switch” scenario.
A new report by the Future of Technology Institute, a Brussels-based think tank, sheds light on the heavy reliance on US technologies in the defense sector across the European Union (EU) and the UK.
The report highlights that the scale of Europe’s cloud dependency is largely unknown due to the classified nature of defense and security contracts.
However, a review of open contracting databases suggests that more than three-quarters (78.5%) of European states depend on US big tech companies for critical national security functions.
Of the 28 countries studied, 23 seem to rely on US tech either through direct procurements or through relationships with European firms whose products use US cloud providers.
Providers Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Oracle dominate European systems, and they are all aligned with the Trump administration, according to the report.
The risk level is high for 16 European countries
Sixteen national defense agencies or ministries are at high risk of a potential US “kill switch,” a scenario in which Trump orders American companies to shut down or disable devices and services for European users.
The risks come from directly contracting a US tech company for cloud services or from uncertainty about whether the US technology they rely on is effectively “airgapped,” meaning it is disconnected from the hyperscaler’s global cloud infrastructure.
The high-risk countries are: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the UK.
Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, and the Netherlands are classified as countries at medium risk because they either have defense agencies that contract with European providers that rely on airgapped systems or have systems that run on a base of US hyperscaler technology.
Austria appears to be the only country at lower risk of a “kill switch,” as it uses sovereign solutions, and the report authors didn’t identify a clear dependency on US tech.
Militaries warn against sovereign tech
European governments have been looking for ways to reduce their reliance on American technologies amid tense relations with the Trump administration.
However, it is unclear whether armies are willing to follow suit. European military officials have reportedly warned that “tech sovereignty” isn’t realistic and could endanger the continent’s security.
In 2025, when US-Denmark relations reached their lowest point due to threats to Greenland, the Danish government announced that some public agencies would replace Microsoft Office with open-source alternatives.
At the same time, some Danish defense systems appear to rely on Microsoft for back-end services, according to the report.
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Concerns over Europe’s cloud dependence – and efforts to reduce it – are likely here to stay. The European Commission will grant four European companies €180 million in the next six months to develop European cloud services.
In April, four European companies launched a joint sovereign “Disaster Recovery Pack” to ensure organizations can continue critical work in the event of a foreign vendor’s “kill switch.”
Meanwhile, sources from the Commission told CNBC that the upcoming “Tech Sovereignty Package” would restrict member governments’ use of US cloud providers to handle sensitive data, including financial, judicial, and health data.
Commission spokesperson said the package would “improve opportunities for sovereign cloud offerings,” including through public procurement.
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