WASHINGTON: Google Cloud has announced it has inked a deal with the United States Department of Defence to help detect and respond to cyber threats.

The deal allows the Defence Innovation Unit to run applications across platforms including Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure while being managed through the Google Cloud Console, the company said.

The contract may be in seven figures, says online news site Axios.

Previously the company had made a US$10 billion bid for a cloud computing contract with the Defence Department, which was ultimately awarded to Microsoft.