Europe is rearming at speed — but who actually controls the capabilities being built? In this policy paper, Noah Sylvia examines the rapidly shifting balance of power between European governments and the private sector companies that now sit at the heart of modern military capability.
Drawing on the lessons of the war in Ukraine and the growing centrality of software-defined warfare, the paper maps the landscape of defence tech — from civilian cloud giants like AWS and Microsoft to purpose-built defence tech firms — and traces how deep dependencies on US providers are exposing critical gaps in European sovereignty.
The paper identifies four interconnected challenges: a shortage of technical expertise inside government; ambiguous and contested notions of digital sovereignty; fragmented approaches to systems integration and risk management; and insufficient strategic engagement with the dominant multinational technology firms shaping European defence infrastructure.
Rather than treating these as isolated procurement problems, Sylvia argues they are interdependent political choices. With deliberate reform across skills, authority structures, open architectures, and strategic governance, Europe has a narrow but viable path toward a more autonomous, integrated, and credible defence posture.
A briefing for policymakers navigating the new era of defence tech.