Pentagon formalizes Palantir's Maven AI as core military system with multi-year funding

Pentagon formalizes Palantir's Maven AI as a core military system with multi-year funding -- platform's investment grows to $13 billion from $480 million in 2024

The Pentagon intends to designate Palantir's Maven Smart System as an official program of record, locking in multi-year funding for the AI-enabled targeting platform that is already deployed across every U.S. combatant command, according to a policy memo first reported by Reuters on March 20. Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg signed the memo on March 9, stating that program-of-record status "will provide the stable funding and resourcing necessary" for Maven's continued development, integration, and use by commanders in combat operations, Bloomberg reported. The designation enters Maven into the Future Years Defense Program as a protected line item, giving it visibility and stability across budget cycles that experimental programs lack. The U.S. Army will manage all Maven contracts going forward, and oversight will transfer from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to the Chief Digital and AI Officer within 30 days, with program-of-record status expected before the close of fiscal year 2026 on September 30. What is Maven? Maven started under Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert O. Work in April 2017 as an effort to apply machine learning to drone surveillance footage. Google was the original technology partner, but withdrew in 2018 after employee protests. Palantir took over and built a full command-and-control platform that ingests data from more than 150 sources, according to Palantir's public demonstrations: satellite imagery, drone video, radar, infrared sensors, signals intelligence, and geolocation data. Computer vision algorithms trained on millions of labeled images automatically detect and classify battlefield objects, with yellow-outlined boxes marking potential targets, blue outlines flagging friendly forces and no-strike zones, and an 'AI Asset Tasking Recommender' proposing which weapons platforms and munitions should be assigned to each target. NGA Director Vice Admiral Frank Whitworth stated at Palantir's AIPCON 9 conference in March that Maven can generate 1,000 targeting recommendations per hour, as reported by The Register, with the 18th Airborne Corps reportedly achieving comparable targeting output to the 2,000-person cell used during Operation Iraqi Freedom with roughly 20 people. Maven now has more than 20,000 active users, a figure that has quadrupled since March 2024. The platform was used during the 2021 Kabul airlift, to supply target coordinates to Ukrainian forces in 2022, and most recently during Operation Epic Fury against Iran in 2026, where it reportedly enabled processing of 1,000 targets within the first 24 hours, according to SpaceNews. NATO acquired a version in March 2025. $480 million to $10 billion in 14 months An initial $480 million Maven contract was awarded in May 2024, with the ceiling raised to $1.3 billion in May 2025, alongside a $10 billion Army enterprise framework agreement signed in July 2025 that consolidated 75 existing Palantir contracts. Meanwhile, the FY2026 defense budget reached $1.01 trillion, representing a 13% increase over FY2025, and for the first time included a dedicated AI and autonomy budget line of $13.4 billion, according to MeriTalk's analysis of the Pentagon budget request. That allocation covers unmanned aerial vehicles ($9.4 billion), maritime autonomous systems ($1.7 billion), and supporting AI software ($1.2 billion). The Pentagon now oversees more than 685 AI-related projects tied to weapons systems, per Congressional Research Service tracking. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's January 2026 AI strategy memo, published on defense.gov, declared the military would become an "AI-first warfighting force" and outlined seven priority projects for FY2026, including Swarm Forge for autonomous drone swarms and Agent Network for AI-driven kill chain execution. The Drone Dominance Program aims to field more than 200,000 one-way attack drones by 2027, with a first order of 30,000 units at roughly $5,000 each, Breaking Defense reported. Anthropic's Claude AI models were also integrated into Maven through Palantir's platform and received Impact Level 6 accreditation for classified environments. We've reported extensively on how Anthropic refused to allow Claude to power fully autonomous weapons or mass surveillance, with the Pentagon then designating the company a "supply chain risk to national security" in February. Anthropic filed federal lawsuits earlier this month, and OpenAI struck a deal with the Pentagon shortly after. Analysts estimate that extracting Claude from classified networks could take up to 18 months. DoD testing waivers DoD Directive 3000.09, updated in January 2023, requires "appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of force" and senior-level review before autonomous weapons development. Hegseth's January 2026 strategy memo, however, pushes in the opposite direction, stating explicitly: "We must accept that the risks of not moving fast enough outweigh the risks of imperfect alignment," with testing requirements treated as potential "blockers" subject to waiver by a newly created Barrier Removal Board. The Brennan Center for Justice, in a March 2026 report titled "The Business of Military AI," documented that Hegseth halved staffing at the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation and shuttered the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence. The center's researchers wrote that "the accelerating use of AI in warfighting has not been met with commensurate urgency to reckon with its dangers." CSIS research has quantified AI-assisted targeting error propagation at 25% under variable conditions, according to a January 2026 analysis. Whitworth stated that by June 2026, Maven will begin transmitting "100 percent machine-generated" intelligence to combatant commanders. "No human hands actually participate in that particular template and that particular dissemination," he added. "We want to use it for everything, not just targeting." Senator Elissa Slotkin introduced the AI Guardrails Act this month, which would prohibit the DoD from using autonomous weapons to kill without human authorization and bar AI use for domestic mass surveillance, The Hill reported. The FY2026 NDAA already declares targeting and launch authorization "inherently governmental" functions and requires reporting of autonomous weapons directive waivers to Congress. Military AI goes worldwide The U.S. isn't alone in its push for AI in military applications. China's People's Liberation Army is pursuing "intelligentized warfare" under the 15th Five-Year Plan, with a 2027 target for decisive military capability over Taiwan -- a claim that U.S. intelligence services have denied. Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology reviewed thousands of PLA procurement requests and identified AI decision-support systems, AI for countering U.S. naval assets, and AI for information manipulation, according to a February 2026 report. Georgetown researchers noted no equivalent of Anthropic-style restrictions on autonomous kill chains within PLA procurement. Meanwhile, a recent CSIS analysis documented Russian forces striking approximately 300 targets per day using unmanned systems in Ukraine, with data collection feeding AI platforms designated Platform-GNS and Avtomat. Russia voted against the December 2024 UN General Assembly draft resolution on lethal autonomous weapons alongside only North Korea and Belarus. That resolution passed 166-3 but remains non-binding; no international treaty currently governs lethal autonomous weapons systems. With AI reshaping the techonolgy industry, its influence has now begun to slip into the long shadow of military usage, and the implications of such deals remains to be seen.

Exclusive: Pentagon to adopt Palantir AI as core US military system, memo says

NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - Palantir's (PLTR.O), opens new tab Maven artificial intelligence system will become an official program of record, Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg said in a letter to Pentagon leaders, a move that locks in long-term use of Palantir's weapons-targeting technology across the U.S. military. In the March 9 letter to senior Pentagon leaders and U.S. military commanders, Feinberg said embedding Palantir's Maven Smart System would provide warfighters "with the latest tools necessary to detect, deter, and dominate our adversaries in all domains". The decision is expected to go into effect by the close of the current fiscal year, which ends in September, according to the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters and has not been previously reported. Maven is a command-and-control software platform that analyzes battlefield data and identifies targets. It is already the primary AI operating system for the U.S. military, which has carried ⁠out thousands of targeted strikes against Iran over the last three weeks. Designating Maven as a program of record will streamline its adoption across all arms of the military and provide stable, long-term funding, Feinberg said. The memo ordered oversight of Maven be moved from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency to the Pentagon's Chief Digital Artificial Intelligence Office within 30 days. Future contracting with Palantir will be handled by the Army, the letter said. "It is imperative that we invest now and with focus to deepen the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across the Joint Force and establish AI-enabled decision-making as the cornerstone of our strategy," Feinberg wrote. Palantir and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PALANTIR RISES FURTHER AT THE PENTAGON Feinberg's order is a significant win for Palantir, which has landed a growing stream of contracts with the U.S. government, including a deal announced last summer with the U.S. Army worth up to $10 billion. Those awards have helped double the company's stock price in ⁠the past year, lifting its market value to nearly $360 billion. Maven can rapidly analyze huge amounts of data from satellites, drones, radars, sensors and intelligence reports, and use AI to automatically identify potential threats or targets, like enemy military vehicles, buildings and weapons stockpiles. During a presentation at a Palantir event earlier this month, Pentagon official Cameron Stanley, who leads its AI office, demonstrated how the company's Maven platform could be used for weapons targeting in the Middle East, and he showed heat map screenshots from the Maven platform. "When we started ⁠this, it literally took hours to do what you just saw," he said, according to a YouTube video uploaded, opens new tab by the company last week. United Nations expert panels have warned AI weapons targeting without human intervention raises ethical, legal and security risks since AI picks up inadvertent biases from the data sets used to train it. Palantir says its software does not make ⁠lethal decisions and humans remain responsible for selecting and approving targets. Palantir developed its AI system to serve the Pentagon's Project Maven, which began as a drone-imagery labeling program in 2017. In 2024, the Pentagon awarded Palantir a contract worth up to $480 million. That year, Palantir's Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar told the House Armed ⁠Services Committee, opens new tab that Maven had "tens of thousands" of users and urged Congress to provide more funding. In May 2025, the Pentagon increased the contract ceiling to $1.3 billion. One potential complication in deeper Maven adoption is the software's use of the Anthropic-made Claude AI tool, Reuters previously reported. Anthropic was recently deemed a supply chain risk by the Pentagon, amid a months-long spat over safety guardrails surrounding the AI. Reporting by David Jeans; Editing by Joe Brock and Cynthia Osterman Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Technology David Jeans Thomson Reuters David Jeans is a space and defense correspondent for Reuters, based in New York. He covers the intersection of weapons, technology and national security, with a focus on the rise of venture-backed military startups and the Pentagon's evolving relationship with Silicon Valley. Previously, he covered defense tech for Forbes. He's also the co-author of WONDER BOY: Tony Hsieh, Zappos and the Myth of Happiness in Silicon Valley, named a Financial Times Best Business Book.

Pentagon to adopt Palantir AI as core US military system, memo says - The Economic Times

Palantir's Maven artificial intelligence system will become an official program of record, Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg said in a letter to Pentagon leaders, a move that locks in long-term use of Palantir's weapons-targeting technology across the US military.Palantir's Maven artificial intelligence system will become an official program of record, Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg said in a letter to Pentagon leaders, a move that locks in long-term use of Palantir's weapons-targeting technology across the US military. In the March 9 letter to senior Pentagon leaders and US military commanders, Feinberg said embedding Palantir's Maven Smart System would provide warfighters "with the latest tools necessary to detect, deter, and dominate our adversaries in all domains". The decision is expected to go into effect by the close of the current fiscal year, which ends in September, according to the letter, which was ⁠reviewed by ⁠Reuters and has not been previously reported. Maven is a command-and-control software platform that analyzes battlefield data and identifies targets. It is already the primary AI operating system for the US military, which has carried out thousands of targeted strikes against Iran over the last three weeks. Designating Maven as a program of record will streamline its adoption across all arms of the military and provide stable, long-term funding, Feinberg said. The memo ordered oversight of Maven be moved from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency to the Pentagon's Chief Digital Artificial Intelligence Office within 30 days. Future contracting with Palantir will be handled by the Army, the letter said. "It is imperative that we invest now and with focus ⁠to deepen the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across the Joint Force and establish AI-enabled decision-making as the cornerstone of our strategy," Feinberg wrote. Palantir and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Palantir rises further at the Pentagon Feinberg's order ⁠is a significant win for Palantir, which has landed a growing stream of contracts with the US government, including a deal announced last summer with the US Army worth up to $10 billion. Those awards have helped double the company's stock price in the past year, lifting its market value to nearly $360 billion. Maven can rapidly analyse huge amounts of data from satellites, drones, radars, sensors and intelligence reports, and use AI to automatically identify potential threats or targets, like enemy military vehicles, buildings and weapons stockpiles. During a presentation at a Palantir event earlier this month, Pentagon official Cameron Stanley, who leads its AI office, demonstrated how the company's Maven platform could be used for weapons targeting in the Middle East, and he showed heat map screenshots from the Maven platform. "When we started this, it literally took hours to do what you just saw," he said, according to a YouTube video uploaded by the company last week. United Nations expert panels have warned AI weapons targeting without human intervention raises ethical, legal and ⁠security risks since AI picks up inadvertent biases from the data sets used to train it. Palantir says its software does not make lethal decisions and humans remain responsible for selecting and approving targets. Palantir developed its AI system to serve the Pentagon's Project Maven, which began as a drone-imagery labeling program in 2017. In 2024, the Pentagon awarded Palantir a contract worth up to $480 million. That year, Palantir's chief technology officer Shyam Sankar told the House Armed Services Committee that Maven had "tens of thousands" of users and urged Congress to provide more funding. In May 2025, the Pentagon increased the contract ceiling to $1.3 billion. One potential complication in deeper Maven adoption is the software's use of the Anthropic-made Claude AI tool, Reuters previously reported. Anthropic was recently deemed a supply chain risk by the Pentagon, amid a months-long spat over safety guardrails surrounding the AI.

Palantir Scores Big As Pentagon Reportedly Adopts Maven AI Across All Military Branches - Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR)

Feinberg Orders Maven Embedded Across All Military Branches Maven is a command-and-control platform that rapidly analyzes data from satellites, drones, radars, sensors, and intelligence reports, using AI to automatically flag potential threats and targets such as enemy vehicles, buildings, and weapons stockpiles. Palantir and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to Benzinga's requests for comment. A Windfall for Palantir's Government Business Designating Maven as a program of record streamlines its adoption across all arms of the military and secures stable, long-term funding -- a significant win for Palantir, which already landed a U.S. Army contract worth up to $10 billion last summer. The company's stock has roughly doubled over the past year, pushing its market cap to nearly $360 billion. Price Action: Shares of Palantir closed down over 3% at $150.68 on Friday. The stock was slightly up in trading after the bell, having lost about 10% so far this year, according to Benzinga Pro. According to Benzinga Edge Stock Rankings, Palantir shares are showing an upward trend in the short and long-term, although the company's Growth score ranks in the 98th percentile. Image via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Pentagon to adopt Palantir AI as core US military system, memo says

Maven is a command-and-control software platform that analyzes battlefield data and identifies targets. It is already the primary AI operating system for the US military. Palantir's Maven artificial intelligence system will become an official program of record, Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg said in a letter to Pentagon leaders, a move that locks in long-term use of Palantir's weapons-targeting technology across the US military. In the March 9 letter to senior Pentagon leaders and US military commanders, Feinberg said embedding Palantir's Maven Smart System would provide warfighters "with the latest tools necessary to detect, deter, and dominate our adversaries in all domains". The decision is expected to take effect by the close of the current fiscal year, which ends in September, according to the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters and has not been reported previously. Maven is a command-and-control software platform that analyzes battlefield data and identifies targets. It is already the primary AI operating system for the US military, which has carried out thousands of targeted strikes against Iran over the last three weeks. Designating Maven as a program of record will streamline its adoption across all arms of the military and provide stable, long-term funding, Feinberg said. Palantir rises further at the Pentagon The memo ordered that oversight of Maven be moved from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency to the Pentagon's Chief Digital Artificial Intelligence Office within 30 days. Future contracting with Palantir will be handled by the Army, the letter said. "It is imperative that we invest now and with focus to deepen the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across the Joint Force and establish AI-enabled decision-making as the cornerstone of our strategy," Feinberg wrote. Palantir and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Feinberg's order is a significant win for Palantir, which has landed a growing stream of contracts with the US government, including a deal announced last summer with the US Army worth up to $10 billion. Those awards have helped double the company's stock price in the past year, lifting its market value to nearly $360 billion. Maven can rapidly analyze large volumes of data from satellites, drones, radars, sensors, and intelligence reports, and use AI to automatically identify potential threats or targets, such as enemy military vehicles, buildings, and weapons stockpiles. During a presentation at a Palantir event earlier this month, Pentagon official Cameron Stanley, who leads its AI office, demonstrated how the company's Maven platform could be used for weapons targeting in the Middle East and showed heat map screenshots from the platform. "When we started this, it literally took hours to do what you just saw," he said, according to a YouTube video uploaded by the company last week. United Nations expert panels have warned that AI weapons targeting without human intervention raises ethical, legal, and security risks since AI picks up inadvertent biases from the data sets used to train it. Palantir says its software does not make lethal decisions, and humans remain responsible for selecting and approving targets. Palantir developed its AI system to serve the Pentagon's Project Maven, which began as a drone-imagery labeling program in 2017. In 2024, the Pentagon awarded Palantir a contract worth up to $480 million. That year, Palantir's Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar told the House Armed Services Committee that Maven had "tens of thousands" of users and urged Congress to provide more funding. In May 2025, the Pentagon increased the contract ceiling to $1.3 billion. One potential complication in deeper Maven adoption is the software's use of the Anthropic-made Claude AI tool, Reuters previously reported. Anthropic was recently deemed a supply chain risk by the Pentagon, amid a months-long spat over safety guardrails surrounding the AI.

Pentagon to adopt Palantir AI as core US military system, memo says

NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters) - Palantir's Maven artificial intelligence system will become an official program of record, Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg said in a letter to Pentagon leaders, a move that locks in long-term use of Palantir's weapons-targeting technology across the U.S. military. In the March 9 letter to senior Pentagon leaders and U.S. military commanders, Feinberg said embedding Palantir's Maven Smart System would provide warfighters "with the latest tools necessary to detect, deter, and dominate our adversaries in all domains". The decision is expected to go into effect by the close of the current fiscal year, which ends in September, according to the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters and has not been previously reported. Maven is a command-and-control software platform that analyzes battlefield data and identifies targets. It is already the primary AI operating system for the U.S. military, which has carried out thousands of targeted strikes against Iran over the last three weeks. Designating Maven as a program of record will streamline its adoption across all arms of the military and provide stable, long-term funding, Feinberg said. The memo ordered oversight of Maven be moved from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency to the Pentagon's Chief Digital Artificial Intelligence Office within 30 days. Future contracting with Palantir will be handled by the Army, the letter said. "It is imperative that we invest now and with focus to deepen the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) across the Joint Force and establish AI-enabled decision-making as the cornerstone of our strategy," Feinberg wrote. Palantir and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PALANTIR RISES FURTHER AT THE PENTAGON Feinberg's order is a significant win for Palantir, which has landed a growing stream of contracts with the U.S. government, including a deal announced last summer with the U.S. Army worth up to $10 billion. Those awards have helped double the company's stock price in the past year, lifting its market value to nearly $360 billion. Maven can rapidly analyze huge amounts of data from satellites, drones, radars, sensors and intelligence reports, and use AI to automatically identify potential threats or targets, like enemy military vehicles, buildings and weapons stockpiles. During a presentation at a Palantir event earlier this month, Pentagon official Cameron Stanley, who leads its AI office, demonstrated how the company's Maven platform could be used for weapons targeting in the Middle East, and he showed heat map screenshots from the Maven platform. "When we started this, it literally took hours to do what you just saw," he said, according to a YouTube video uploaded by the company last week. United Nations expert panels have warned AI weapons targeting without human intervention raises ethical, legal and security risks since AI picks up inadvertent biases from the data sets used to train it. Palantir says its software does not make lethal decisions and humans remain responsible for selecting and approving targets. Palantir developed its AI system to serve the Pentagon's Project Maven, which began as a drone-imagery labeling program in 2017. In 2024, the Pentagon awarded Palantir a contract worth up to $480 million. That year, Palantir's Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar told the House Armed Services Committee that Maven had "tens of thousands" of users and urged Congress to provide more funding. In May 2025, the Pentagon increased the contract ceiling to $1.3 billion. One potential complication in deeper Maven adoption is the software's use of the Anthropic-made Claude AI tool, Reuters previously reported. Anthropic was recently deemed a supply chain risk by the Pentagon, amid a months-long spat over safety guardrails surrounding the AI. (Reporting by David Jeans; Editing by Joe Brock and Cynthia Osterman)