Sandra Erwin
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is dramatically increasing spending on artificial intelligence for military operations, raising the contract ceiling for Palantir Technologies’ Maven Smart System to nearly $1.3 billion through 2029.
The Defense Department announced May 21 it is upping the spending limit for software licenses under Maven by $795 million, compared to a ceiling of $480 million just a year ago. The new funding is specifically for U.S. combatant commands, which oversee military operations across geographic regions.
Project Maven, launched by the Pentagon in 2017, was designed to accelerate the adoption of AI and machine learning across the U.S. military. The program uses artificial intelligence to analyze massive volumes of imagery and data from sources like satellites, drones and other sensors, enabling rapid detection, identification and tracking of objects of interest.
In 2022, operational control of the geospatial intelligence aspects of Maven was transferred to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which coordinates intelligence gathering from satellite imagery and other location-based sources.
Palantir has separate contracts with NGA and for Maven Smart System software licenses for the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force.
“Adoption by the U.S. combatant commands for the first year has been far greater than expectations,” according to a report from William Blair investment firm analysts. The much higher contract ceiling reflects the “mass adoption of the Maven Smart System for geospatial awareness and targeting.”
NGA Director Vice Adm. Frank Whitworth said the agency recently awarded Palantir a $28 million contract to expand access to Maven Smart System for the agency’s analysts.
There are now more than 20,000 active users of Maven across more than 35 military service and combatant command software tools. The user base has more than quadrupled since March of last year and more than doubled since January alone.
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