Why data sovereignty is mission-critical for global defence organisations

Data sovereignty is the principle that data must remain under a nation’s jurisdiction and control. In defence, it extends beyond compliance — it’s a pillar of strategic resilience. Sovereign control ensures that sensitive and mission-critical information is generated, stored, and accessed in ways that align with national security priorities and regulatory mandates.

Strategic autonomy is a high priority for the wider public sector, including, for example, the EU’s defence funding, and introduces considerations of jurisdiction and skills development. As a European-headquartered open source software company, we pride ourselves on being an enabler of software engineering skills development since our founding in Amsterdam in 2012.

Data sovereignty not only improves situational awareness and ensures the secure handling of sensitive data — from how it's collected and analysed to how it is used and shared; it’s also vital for intelligence, real-time operations, and decision-making.

When data sovereignty is ensured, defence leaders and operators can act quickly and confidently without compromising security or control. It helps prevent unauthorised access and data breaches, reduces the risk of cyber attacks, and safeguards critical systems through secure machine-to-machine communications.

Defence organisations around the world face several key challenges:

• Fragmented standards and systems across branches, commands, and coalition partners make it difficult to manage and control data effectively.

• Legacy systems create data silos that limit interoperability, data access, and innovation.

• Lack of interoperability between systems causes data fragmentation, making it difficult to quickly extract answers and actionable insights and slowing down mission-critical operations.

• Limited data visibility makes it challenging to understand what data exists and where it resides, complicating management and protection. 

• Complex data classification across multiple domains and systems adds layers of complexity in safeguarding sensitive data.

• Collaboration gaps arise when balancing speed and control in intelligence sharing, especially across borders, creating security, operational, and compliance challenges.

To overcome these challenges, defence organisations need strategic approaches that strengthen security and support operational agility. There is no single solution — success requires bringing people on board, sharp strategies, solid architectures, advanced technologies, and governance models. Here are some key considerations:

Overcome data silos, maintain data ownership, and enhance secure collaboration

Defence operations require timely, secure access to information across land, sea, air, space, and cyber domains. Traditional centralised data models often slow operations and increase both security risks and costs. A data mesh approach addresses these challenges by creating a flexible, unified data layer that connects information across domains. It enables secure, high-performance search and analysis across domains, eliminating the need to copy or relocate data regardless of its format or location. With a distributed search approach, data remains stored within its sovereign environment but can be accessed in real time across clusters on-premises, in the cloud, or at the edge.

Even in Denied, Disrupted, Intermittent, and Low‑bandwidth (DDIL) environments, defence users can query available systems and prioritise critical nodes to maintain situational awareness. Each domain retains control over how its data is stored, accessed, and shared while secure collaboration across departments and partners is preserved.

Additionally, role-based access control (RBAC) and attribute-based access control (ABAC) add another layer of precision, enforcing access rules based on the user's role, security clearance, and mission needs. These mechanisms ensure sensitive data remains protected, auditable, and compliant even when shared across allied or coalition systems.

For multinational or coalition operations, an international data mesh enables secure information sharing between allies while maintaining each nation's sovereign control over its own data. Through clearly defined access controls, shared governance frameworks, and distributed search capabilities, defence can protect sensitive information and enable partners to collaborate effectively without compromising sovereignty or security boundaries.

Full assurance is provided with audit trails of which information was accessed for repeatability and improvement purposes.

Key for interoperability and flexibility

Defence operations depend on dozens of interconnected systems across domains, services, and allied partners. While data security is critical, it often limits sharing and slows down response times across disconnected systems. 

Open source technology, such as Elasticsearch, and open standards like OpenTelemetry enable data to be used and shared consistently without vendor lock-in. Each organisation or department can choose its own technology while maintaining full control of its data. This flexibility makes upgrades easier, reduces costs, and accelerates the integration of new technologies.

Transparent, community-driven software gives defence agencies full visibility and control over their technology stack, ensuring secure, compliant operations.

Unlike proprietary approaches, open standards ensure that military systems can communicate regardless of their origin or manufacturer. This capability is critical for operations spanning multiple services, classification levels, and domains. Open standards reduce integration challenges, prevent vendor lock-in, and allow new capabilities to be adopted without rebuilding entire systems — protecting existing investments and eliminating the costly custom development typically required to connect incompatible systems.

Balancing data security and access

Zero Trust enforces continuous verification of users, devices, and access requests. By doing so, it validates identity, context, and risk at every step to minimise risk exposure.

Defence agencies across the US, UK, Europe, and Australia are rapidly adopting a “never trust, always verify” approach as security regulations tighten. Zero Trust doesn’t just authenticate user identity; it also evaluates device health, network integrity, and contextual factors. This approach ensures that only legitimate, trusted users and devices can access sensitive data and systems. It gives defense organisations greater control over their networks, enabling faster threat detection and reducing the likelihood of unauthorized access.

Without clear control over where data resides, who can access it, and how it’s processed, defence organisations risk unauthorised access, service disruptions, and even mission failure. Zero Trust provides the framework to safeguard mission-critical operations while maintaining agility and resilience.

AI plays an increasingly important role in the future of data sovereignty within defence.  AI can automate repetitive tasks, such as data classification, threat detection, and monitoring, helping teams manage large volumes of sensitive information more efficiently. It can also filter irrelevant data to accelerate decision-making. 

For defence organisations adopting AI, explainability and auditability are key to maintaining trust and compliance with data sovereignty regulations. Equally critical is retaining control over AI infrastructure. By deploying AI models within secure, sovereign environments, defence organisations can ensure that sensitive data stays within national boundaries and under direct oversight.

Elastic gives defence organisations the flexibility to keep control over data no matter where it resides — on-premises, in private clouds, or across hybrid environments. This ensures that sensitive information is protected and complies with country-specific data sovereignty regulations while enabling rapid, secure access across domains. Consequently, this control over data enables defence teams to act and operate independently, reinforcing strategic autonomy.

With open standards at its core, Elastic promotes interoperability across diverse systems, reduces vendor lock-in, and integrates seamlessly with both existing and future defence technologies.

Elastic’s data mesh approach provides distributed search, secure cross-domain access, and integrated RBAC and ABAC controls, enabling defence teams to collaborate and act on data efficiently without compromising sovereignty or security. Combined with Zero Trust, Elastic continuously verifies users and devices to ensure only authorised personnel can access mission-critical information.

AI deployment with Elastic is simplified and ready out of the box, giving defence teams immediate access to mission-critical insights without extensive training or specialised expertise. This makes AI accessible and operational for all users.

In an era of complex threats and fast-paced operations, data sovereignty is no longer optional for defence; it’s a mission-critical requirement.

By combining strategic governance with modern technologies and techniques, such as data mesh, Zero Trust, and open standards, defence leaders can retain control over their most valuable asset: information. At the same time, they can enable secure collaboration, maintain mission readiness, and respond with speed and precision.

Contact our team to find out how our data solutions can help your organisation achieve the data sovereignty and agility required to support mission success.