Nato quietly puts trust in Palantir to move troops and identify targets
Posted by johnlilburne on July 9, 2026, 5:34 pm
Mark Rutte announced a ‘big reveal’ about aircraft at the summit in Ankara, but an AI innovation for defence against Russia is more contentious
Inside the Nato military headquarters near Mons in Belgium, a new artificial intelligence system runs on a secret network. It will change how the alliance deters — and, if necessary, fights — Russia.
Built by Palantir, the American tech company that critics fear has become too powerful, Nato’s Maven Smart System (MSS) is a command and control platform powered by AI that speeds up response times from hours to minutes.
Maven, already embedded within the British Ministry of Defence, joins data from Nato members to expose vulnerabilities in the alliance’s defence plans and inform future personnel deployments.
It will show positioning across Nato’s eastern flank, relay Russian force movements in detail, alert officials to concerning changes from Moscow that demand an alliance response, and identify targets to strike.
Nato announced last week that it had reached full technical operational capability but omitted the word “Palantir” from the press release as many of its members are sceptical that the alliance should be so heavily reliant on the CIA-backed firm’s technology.
France and Germany have resisted use of Palantir tech, whereas Britain, Sweden and the Netherlands are among those to have taken it up.
In an interview with The Times on the fringes of the defence industry forum on day one of the Nato summit in Ankara, Louis Mosley, the 43-year-old chief executive of Palantir UK, said: “If you were to go into the operations centre in Shape [Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe] now, what you would see on all the screens is Palantir.
“If Nato were to go to war, it would go to war [using] Palantir. It’s that comprehensive intelligence picture of threats to Nato and also the disposition of Nato assets and forces. If you had to start hitting targets, that whole process would be enabled through Palantir.”
If Russia moves its elite soldiers from the 76th Guards Air Assault Division closer to the border with Estonia, Palantir’s system will flag it.
Military officers will be alerted to vulnerabilities in the alliance’s force structure across Europe, and which troops to move from where to fend off a Russian attack. At any one time the system knows how many troops Nato has, where and when, so it can advise what to do next.
There is hope that such a system, which is deemed to be a significant upgrade to Nato’s capabilities, would give the allies an advantage against Russia should it decide to attack in the coming years.
Palantir is also bidding for a Nato contract to replace the software for a “Golden Dome-style” air defence system which will enable the alliance to collectively track ballistic and hypersonic missiles flying over its territory.
On Tuesday Nato allies showcased a series of arms deals worth billions of dollars in an attempt to convince President Trump that they are stepping up defence spending and converting investment into military strength.
Nato will launch a strategic airlift fleet of Airbus A400M transport planes and add one aircraft to its existing fleet of A330 MRTT tanker planes, Mark Rutte, Nato secretary-general, said at the forum in what was described as a “big reveal”.
Palantir has been the subject of several controversies. US immigration officials have used it to find foreign citizens to deport, and the company has had to deny allegations that its technology has been used by Israeli forces to target civilians in Gaza.
Its £330 million contract to provide data systems to NHS hospitals is under review as ministers face pressure over concerns about patient data privacy. More than half of NHS trusts in England are using the federated data platform developed by Palantir to organise patient records and help cut waiting lists.
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on July 9, 2026, 5:34 pm