Google Lands £400M MoD Contract For Secure UK Cloud Services

The UK's Ministry of Defence has signed a £400 million ($540 million) contract with Google sovereign cloud to support security and analytics workloads.

The arrangement promises Google AI, data analytics, and cybersecurity, all in sovereign datacenters built in the UK. Defense intelligence and national security specialists will also use the systems to share secure information between UK partners, the MoD statement said. The aim is to strengthen secure communication links between the UK and US, adding to the security partnership the two nations share.

The Register has asked the MoD whether the US security services will have access to and use the same Google sovereign cloud as the UK.

The UK government released the news ahead of US president Donald Trump's state visit, an event likely to spark nationwide protest.

The MoD said the Google deal would help create a digitally integrated service, providing resilient and secure networks, planks of the Strategic Defence Review [PDF], a document published in June prime minister Keir Starmer said would "drive innovation at a wartime pace."

According to the government, the agreement has already led to millions of pounds of inward investment from Google Cloud, which has committed to recruiting a specialist team to manage the technology in the UK.

Defence secretary John Healey stated: "Secure, seamless communication with our allies is crucial for national security and Google Cloud's investment will build up our world-leading secret tech for the future. The deal also delivers on the Strategic Defence Review, helping us develop the latest digital technology to counter our adversaries."

The Register has asked the MoD to clarify what Healey meant by "secret tech." We also asked what the Google contract means for existing cloud deals with AWS and Microsoft Azure.

• Google Cloud CEO sees sunny days ahead thanks to AI demand
• Sovereign-ish: Google Cloud keeps AI data in UK, but not the support
• Salesforce data missing? It might be due to Salesloft breach, Google says
• More customers asking for Google's Data Boundary, says Cloud Experience boss

In the Cloud Strategic Roadmap for Defence, published in February 2023 under the previous Conservative government, the MoD said it would consolidate existing capabilities, alongside efforts to offer a single service through a delivery vehicle it called the Cirrus Portfolio.

It said defense services would use common Microsoft Azure and AWS tools "favored by most." It added that the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) might lean toward Google Cloud.

AWS continues to advertise UK National Security and Defence products. The MoD meanwhile lists AWS, Azure, and Oracle Cloud Platform for its users.

In 2016, the MoD became one of the first tenants of Microsoft's UK Azure datacenter. ®