diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index d8130c60d0e..0257b21afb2 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -150,6 +150,13 @@ subprojects {
             // elasticsearch snapshots
             mavenLocal()
         }
+        maven {
+            url "s3://prelert-artifacts/maven"
+            credentials(AwsCredentials) {
+                accessKey "${project.mlAwsAccessKey}"
+                secretKey "${project.mlAwsSecretKey}"
+            }
+        }
         mavenCentral()
         maven {
             name 'sonatype-snapshots'
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elastic/gradle/DownloadS3Task.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elastic/gradle/DownloadS3Task.groovy
deleted file mode 100644
index 402cd95811d..00000000000
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elastic/gradle/DownloadS3Task.groovy
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,90 +0,0 @@
-package org.elastic.gradle
-
-import com.amazonaws.ClientConfiguration
-import com.amazonaws.auth.AWSCredentials
-import com.amazonaws.auth.BasicAWSCredentials
-import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3Client
-import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.GetObjectRequest
-import org.gradle.api.DefaultTask
-import org.gradle.api.tasks.Input
-import org.gradle.api.tasks.TaskAction
-import org.gradle.logging.ProgressLogger
-import org.gradle.logging.ProgressLoggerFactory
-
-import javax.inject.Inject
-
-/**
- * A task to download files to s3, which allows delayed resolution of the s3 path
- */
-class DownloadS3Task extends DefaultTask {
-
-
-    private List<Object> toDownload = new ArrayList<>()
-
-    @Input
-    String bucket
-
-    @Input
-    File destDir
-
-    /** True if the file paths should be flattened into a single directory when downloaded, false otherwise */
-    @Input
-    boolean flatten = false
-
-    DownloadS3Task() {
-        ext.set('needs.aws', true)
-    }
-
-    @Inject
-    public ProgressLoggerFactory getProgressLoggerFactory() {
-        throw new UnsupportedOperationException()
-    }
-
-    /**
-     * Add a file to be uploaded to s3. The key object will be evaluated at runtime.
-     *
-     * If file is a directory, all files in the directory will be uploaded to the key as a prefix.
-     */
-    public void download(Object key) {
-        toDownload.add(key)
-    }
-
-    @TaskAction
-    public void downloadFromS3() {
-        AWSCredentials creds = new BasicAWSCredentials(project.mlAwsAccessKey, project.mlAwsSecretKey)
-
-        ClientConfiguration clientConfiguration = new ClientConfiguration();
-        // the response metadata cache is only there for diagnostics purposes,
-        // but can force objects from every response to the old generation.
-        clientConfiguration.setResponseMetadataCacheSize(0);
-
-        AmazonS3Client client = new AmazonS3Client(creds, clientConfiguration);
-        ProgressLogger progressLogger = getProgressLoggerFactory().newOperation("s3upload")
-        progressLogger.description = "download files from s3"
-        progressLogger.started()
-
-        for (Object entry : toDownload) {
-            String key = entry.toString()
-            downloadFile(client, progressLogger, destDir, key)
-        }
-        progressLogger.completed()
-    }
-
-    /** Download a single file */
-    private void downloadFile(AmazonS3Client client, ProgressLogger progressLogger, File destDir, String key) {
-        File destPath = getDestinationPath(destDir, key, flatten)
-        logger.info("Downloading ${destPath} from ${bucket}")
-        progressLogger.progress("downloading ${destPath}")
-        client.getObject(new GetObjectRequest(bucket, key), destPath)
-    }
-
-    private File getDestinationPath(File destDir, String key, boolean flatten) {
-        String destPath
-        if (flatten) {
-            destPath = key.substring(key.lastIndexOf('/') + 1)
-        } else {
-            destPath = key
-        }
-        return new File(destDir, destPath)
-    }
-}
diff --git a/elasticsearch/build.gradle b/elasticsearch/build.gradle
index d2a1156148e..448a9077c51 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/build.gradle
+++ b/elasticsearch/build.gradle
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.gradle.precommit.PrecommitTasks
-import org.elastic.gradle.DownloadS3Task
 
 apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.esplugin'
 
@@ -13,8 +12,15 @@ version = project.version
 
 thirdPartyAudit.enabled = false
 
+configurations {
+    nativeBundle
+}
+
 dependencies {
     compile group: 'net.sf.supercsv', name: 'super-csv', version:"${supercsvVersion}"
+    nativeBundle group: "${project.group}", name: 'ml-cpp-test', version:"${project.version}", classifier: 'darwin-x86_64', ext: 'zip'
+    nativeBundle group: "${project.group}", name: 'ml-cpp-test', version:"${project.version}", classifier: 'linux-x86_64', ext: 'zip'
+    nativeBundle group: "${project.group}", name: 'ml-cpp-test', version:"${project.version}", classifier: 'windows-x86_64', ext: 'zip'
     testCompile group: 'org.ini4j', name: 'ini4j', version:"${ini4jVersion}"
 }
 
@@ -40,22 +46,6 @@ integTest {
 
 integTest.mustRunAfter noBootstrapTest
 
-String projectGroupPath = project.group.replaceAll("\\.", "/")
-
-task downloadCppDist(type: DownloadS3Task) {
-  enabled project.cppLocalDists == ''
-  description = 'Download C++ zips from S3 Bucket'
-  bucket 'prelert-artifacts'
-  destDir file("${buildDir}/cppDist")
-  flatten true
-  download "maven/${projectGroupPath}/ml-cpp/${project.version}/ml-cpp-${project.version}-windows-x86_64.zip"
-  download "maven/${projectGroupPath}/ml-cpp/${project.version}/ml-cpp-${project.version}-linux-x86_64.zip"
-  download "maven/${projectGroupPath}/ml-cpp/${project.version}/ml-cpp-${project.version}-darwin-x86_64.zip"
-  outputs.file(file("${buildDir}/cppDist/ml-cpp-${project.version}-windows-x86_64.zip"))
-  outputs.file(file("${buildDir}/cppDist/ml-cpp-${project.version}-darwin-x86_64.zip"))
-  outputs.file(file("${buildDir}/cppDist/ml-cpp-${project.version}-linux-x86_64.zip"))
-}
-
 bundlePlugin {
   if (project.cppLocalDists) {
     String localZipFile = 'ml-cpp-${project.version}-' +
@@ -63,11 +53,10 @@ bundlePlugin {
       (project.isLinux ? "linux-x86_64" : "sunos-x86_64"))) + ".zip"
     from { zipTree(cppLocalDists + '/' + localZipFile) }
   } else {
-    for (outputFile in downloadCppDist.outputs.files) {
+    for (outputFile in configurations.nativeBundle) {
       from(zipTree(outputFile)) {
         duplicatesStrategy 'exclude'
       }
     }
-    dependsOn 'downloadCppDist'
   }
 }