Hybrid conflict — where conventional military force is combined with cyberoperations, information warfare, economic pressure and digital disruption — has made one thing clear: Sovereignty in defense is an increasingly complex concern.
For European member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the challenge is both adopting advanced technologies and keeping these capabilities controllable, explainable and resilient under pressure.
In this context, sovereignty refers to the ability to decide, operate and adapt independently — even under degraded conditions or disrupted dependencies. Software-defined defense makes this sovereignty executable by enabling defense organizations to adapt their capabilities through software, data, secure platforms and lifecycle-aware operating models, instead of hardware-centric modernization cycles.
In this interview, NTT DATA’s Pieter Minack, Industry CTO: Federal and Defense, and René Indefrey, Head of Industry Consulting: Defense and Dual-Use, discuss the practical implications, with a focus on lessons learned from recent conflicts. They also explain how NTT DATA works with defense organizations, manufacturers and technology partners to design software-defined capabilities that balance national control, operational resilience and interoperability between defense alliances.
The rising importance of sovereignty
Why is sovereignty such a central issue in modern, multidomain defense operations?
Sovereignty is the foundation of operational freedom. If you don’t control your systems, you don’t control your decisions.
As military operations become increasingly digital, dependencies multiply — on software, data platforms, cloud services and supply chains. Sovereignty reduces these dependencies. It ensures that armed forces can operate, adapt and sustain capabilities without relying on external actors, especially in crisis or conflict.
For NATO in Europe, this is about maintaining national command authority while remaining interoperable with allies. These two goals are not contradictory, but they must be designed together from the start.
Sovereignty sounds straightforward. Why is it so difficult in practice?
Over the past decade, defense organizations have invested heavily in digital technologies to increase speed, precision and situational awareness. Data now moves continuously across networks, platforms and domains, creating a new operational reality in which cyberspace has become a core operational domain alongside land, sea, air and space.
If you don’t fully understand and control your IT, you risk losing operational relevance. Cybercommunication and cybersecurity are no longer supporting functions — they are mission-enabling capabilities.
This complexity is why sovereignty can’t be bolted on later. It has to be embedded into architectures, governance models and operating concepts from day one.
The same applies to software-defined defense, which requires a culture and operating-model shift: from project-centric delivery to product-centric capability development, with secure DevSecOps, clear lifecycle ownership and continuous feedback from operations into engineering.
Advances in defense systems
What have recent conflicts such as the war in Ukraine revealed about digital and hybrid warfare?
They have shown how decisively warfare has changed. Traditional capabilities — artillery, armored vehicles, air defense — still matter, but they now operate in a digitally enabled environment. Autonomous and GPS-guided systems allow for precision at a level unimaginable 20 years ago. At the same time, electronic warfare, cyberoperations and information manipulation shape outcomes well beyond the front line.
For NATO nations, the lesson is clear: Digital capabilities are not optional add-ons but integral to deterrence and defense. Delayed investment in uncrewed, autonomous and digitally networked systems reflects how quickly threat perceptions can lag behind operational reality.
How does cyberdefense extend beyond military systems?
Cyberdefense is inseparable from societal resilience. Hybrid attacks increasingly target critical infrastructure — energy grids, heating systems, transportation and communications — alongside military assets. Disinformation campaigns aim to erode trust and cohesion from within.
Cyberspace must therefore be treated as a core pillar of defense. Protecting it is essential to maintaining national functionality and public confidence. While many cyberincidents remain classified, their cumulative impact is strategic, not tactical.
How does the integration of IT and OT affect sovereignty and agility, especially in Europe’s defense industry?
Across industries, OT is becoming increasingly software-defined. The same principle applies to defense. Cyberphysical systems — deeply integrated systems that merge computing, networking and physical processes — now rely on software layers that integrate sensors, actuators and control systems across weapons and surveillance platforms.
The question is no longer about focusing on either IT or OT, but how they work together. For defense manufacturers, this also means connecting enterprise resource planning, product lifecycle management, application lifecycle management and manufacturing execution system environments so that requirements, configurations, software releases, production status and lifecycle feedback can be managed as one controlled digital thread.
Deeper integration improves adaptability and availability but requires careful design. Sovereignty doesn’t mean isolation. It means conscious hybridization, with clear boundaries where deeper OT layers remain tightly controlled.
The goal is not isolation but conscious control over critical dependencies.Software-centric, cyberphysical thinking improves modernization and long-term readiness, but it also makes cybersecurity even more critical because of the ultimate impact of cybereffects on physical systems.
How AI makes defense systems more resilient
Why is AI so critical and sensitive in software-defined defense?
Digitalization has created an overwhelming volume of information that no commander or staff can process alone. AI-supported command and control systems are essential for analyzing data, generating situational awareness and accelerating decision-making.
AI enables faster reactions and better-quality decisions, especially in time-critical scenarios. But sovereignty is non-negotiable. AI systems cannot be black boxes. They must be transparent, explainable and governed by clear rules. This requires sovereign AI foundations: trusted data pipelines, model governance, audit trails, human approval points and secure deployment environments that keep sensitive data and decision logic under appropriate control.
Human decision-makers remain accountable. AI supports rather than replaces judgment. Clear governance and traceability are essential, particularly in combat situations and within alliance rules of engagement.
What does resilience mean at the tactical level?
Resilience means staying operational under adverse conditions. On the tactical level, data is the fuel for AI. In peacetime, sovereign cloud environments may be sufficient for some workloads. In crisis or conflict, forces must remain operational even when connectivity, infrastructure or supply chains are degraded or under attack. Data resilience ensures that orders, situational awareness and communications remain available, even when systems are disrupted or degraded. Secure, federated data architectures are essential to maintain command, control and survivability.
Resilient networking is often underestimated. Naval units, for example, must switch between satellite, mobile, local area network and other communication methods depending on geography and other conditions. Maintaining connectivity in all scenarios is critical.
This is where NTT DATA contributes deep experience in secure networking, cloud, cybersecurity and managed infrastructure, helping organizations design resilient digital foundations for demanding environments.
Security and readiness are key
How should the industry think about secure communications?
There is no single “most secure” medium — only layered security. Every communication medium carries risk; radio signals, for example, can be intercepted or jammed. It’s why layered security matters — using multiple transmission paths that are encrypted end to end at all levels.
Equally important is key sovereignty. Control over encryption systems and keys must remain with the operator. Without this control, technical security can still create strategic dependency. Providers must also make alternative communication paths available should one medium fail.
Emerging optical and laser communication technologies, for example, can offer highly directional links that are harder to intercept in satellite or line-of-sight scenarios. These technologies complement more traditional options such as fiber, mobile and satellite communications.
How can the defense industry accelerate readiness without increasing dependency?
By thinking end to end. Speed matters — across requirements, development, production and operations. End-to-end value streams, model-based development and digital twins accelerate readiness while improving resilience. In software-defined defense, readiness depends on the ability to connect these stages into one lifecycle model, where software updates, configuration changes, operational feedback and sustainment decisions are governed continuously.
Digital twins and digital shadows also support cybersecurity and lifecycle management by making configurations, dependencies, vulnerabilities and operational states more transparent. Combined with AI-driven quality assurance and predictive maintenance, they improve availability and reduce downtime.
These capabilities help defense organizations stay operational, even in contested environments, and extend industrial support closer to the point of use.
Innovation as a strategic investment
For defense organizations, innovation only matters when it can be translated into resilient, governable and interoperable capabilities. NTT DATA is part of NTT Group, which invests over $3 billion each year in research and development. Through global innovation centers and co-creation with clients, we help develop technologies that address real-world defense and security needs.
Our key focus areas include photonic networking and computing, private and future-generation mobile communications, and advanced cloud architectures that support policy-based workload placement, continuity and resilience under changing operational conditions. These capabilities are particularly relevant for NATO and European nations seeking greater digital sovereignty while remaining interoperable.
WHAT TO DO NEXT
Read more about NTT DATA’s Defense and Space solutions to see how we help defense and dual-use organizations build secure, sovereign and software-defined capabilities across digital platforms, resilient infrastructure, cybersecurity, data, AI and industrial operations.