Defence Online

After the Anthropic shutdown, Europe must develop its sovereign technology

Land June 30, 2026

The shutdown of Anthropic, creators of Claude, provides a sobering reminder that the United States, the world leaders in frontier AI, can also decide who gets to use it. In the UK, the AI and online safety minister used the shutdown to argue that Britain must build its own AI, and in France, the former Prime Minister called it the start of ‘the AI war’, saying that France remains exposed so long as it depends on the technology of others.

He’s right, and in no field is this more consequential than defence. Many military systems habitually used by European countries contain parts that were built outside of Europe and can be operated remotely by their makers. The designers and manufacturers may be from allied countries, such as the U. S., but that they can still disable, restrict, withhold, and tamper with our technology, and that makes us vulnerable. It’s a platitude in the world of technology that whoever owns the code, architecture or encryption keys owns the system.

This nuances the ongoing conversation over defence spending. Recently, the UK defence minister, John Healey, stepped down, citing the failure of the government to invest sufficiently in defence. In Germany, whose Bundeswehr is now the fourth-highest-funded military in the world, the picture looks different. But in either case, defence spending alone simply isn’t enough. Our technology is not truly our own. It’s at least possible, if not necessarily probable, that if we were to have a serious disagreement with the U. S. over foreign policy, Washington would take our technology offline.

One solution, perhaps the most elegant, is to bring about a situation where American technology developers can sell that technology to allied countries but on the condition that they build it, store it, and maintain it locally. That would allow them to keep doing business, and it would allow Europe to retain its autonomy, strengthen its historic links with the U. S. and benefit from American superiority in many areas of technological innovation.

The alternative would be for Europe to wean itself off American technology entirely – but this is much harder than it sounds. We’re still hamstrung by a procurement system that was developed for a different age (and so favours the big, slow primes over the fast, more innovative smaller companies); the major countries build their own systems separately (thereby creating duplication and increasing costs); common standards are absent (making interoperability is difficult); and defence on the whole remains ‘cliquey’ (which makes it hard for newer, smaller firms to have conversations with the right people and break into the market).

The strategic priorities of Europe and the U. S. might be diverging to some extent, but that doesn’t mean that Europe can’t follow America’s lead in how it develops technology. In February, European policymakers called for a pan-European ‘Defence Innovation Accelerator,’ inspired by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (Diana). That would be a start. An organisation inspired by the American Defence Innovation Unit (DIU), which gets emerging technologies into the field quickly, would also be welcome. A more pragmatic approach to defence in general, which understands rearmament as a means of deterring hostile actors rather than waging war, is also something that has yet to penetrate the European consciousness. Building up flexible manufacturing capacity that can enable the quick development and deployment of arms is crucial to deterrence. As long as the Russians know that we will have exhausted our weapons systems and ammunition in a matter of days, no system will actually deter them. This is why, with Russia breathing down the necks of the Balkan states and Ukraine still fighting tooth and nail for its survival, there’s no time to lose.

I welcome the French government’s decision to trial Arcadia, a battlefield command system built by French companies, and inspired by the American AI system Maven. It shows that European countries are no longer willing to rely as they once did on American technology. But all of Europe must follow this approach, make it part of its wider system, and turn it into a blueprint for the development of continent-wide tech. I also welcome attempts by the German government and others to bring more small, innovative companies into the fold – even if, across Europe, the ruling approach to defence procurement still badly needs reform. But we’re still far from where we need to be – strong, sovereign, able to stand up to our enemies and work with our rivals on equal terms. We needed to get there yesterday. Now, we have to catch up.

Article submitted by Robert Brull

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Post written by: Vicky Maggiani

Vicky has worked in media for over 25 years and has a wealth of experience in editing and creating copy for a variety of sectors.