Bundeswehr Builds Open Defense Cloud for Battlefield Use

Germany's Bundeswehr is developing a deployable Open Defense Cloud designed to bring secure computing and military applications directly into operational environments.

BWI, the Bundeswehr's primary digitalization partner, said on September 30 that the Open Defense Cloud, or ODC, will support mobile operations, process classified information and rely on open-source software. The first applications required for a digitally enabled brigade command post are scheduled to run on the deployable platform in 2027.

The project forms part of the Bundeswehr's wider effort to move toward software-defined military operations and reduce dependence on individual technology suppliers.

Cloud infrastructure will move with Bundeswehr units

The Open Defense Cloud is being designed around the mobility requirements of modern battlefield command structures.

Instead of depending only on large fixed data centers, BWI is building a transportable version using protected transport and operating containers. These systems are intended to provide computing infrastructure closer to deployed forces while reducing reliance on large stationary command posts.

BWI said developments in Ukraine have reinforced the requirement for mobile command infrastructure as drones, electronic surveillance and increasingly detailed digital battlefield pictures make large fixed headquarters easier to locate.

The deployable architecture is therefore being designed to operate with a smaller physical and electromagnetic footprint.

BWI is already testing the Open Defense Cloud with the Bundeswehr under operational conditions, including at the German Army Combat Training Center and during multinational exercises.

New software releases are planned every three months.

Brigade applications are planned for 2027

BWI expects to make the first applications required for the Bundeswehr's digital brigade command capability available on the mobile cloud platform during 2027.

The company is working with the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support, the Bundeswehr Digitalization Center, an active brigade and technology partners.

The next stage is intended to move the deployable Open Defense Cloud toward full operational readiness.

Initial application migrations are already underway. The architecture is also expected to support classified information once the required security capabilities are implemented.

Open source becomes one pillar of Bundeswehr private cloud

The Open Defense Cloud will be one of three technology stacks forming the Bundeswehr's private cloud, known as pCloudBw.

The wider architecture follows a multicloud model intended to reduce dependence on individual suppliers and improve interoperability with NATO.

The other technology stacks use VMware and an air-gapped Google Cloud environment.

The Google system is physically isolated from external Google infrastructure, while the Open Defense Cloud provides the Bundeswehr with an additional architecture centered on open-source technologies.

BWI began preparatory work on the ODC in 2024 and has already tested a mobile demonstrator during military exercises.

The company is also working with German and European open-source projects and joined the Linux Foundation Europe's NeoNephos Foundation in 2026.

Stationary Open Defense Cloud infrastructure is expected to follow later inside BWI-operated data centers.

Germany links cloud architecture to software-defined defense

The Bundeswehr increasingly views cloud infrastructure as a foundation for Software Defined Defense, where new military capabilities can be introduced or updated through software rather than requiring extensive hardware modifications.

Germany is also developing a Bundeswehr-specific Modular Open Systems Approach intended to make hardware and software components easier to replace across different military systems.

The Open Defense Cloud provides part of the computing infrastructure required to support that model.

AdriaDefense recently reported that Germany awarded HENSOLDT a €15 million contract to advance its Optarion architecture, which connects Tiger, NH90 and CH-53GA helicopters to digital command networks under a Software Defined Defense approach.

Germany Awards HENSOLDT €15M Optarion Development Contract

Together, the programs show Germany moving beyond individual digitalization projects toward a wider military software and data architecture connecting command systems, applications and operational platforms.