Pentagon designates Palantir’s Maven AI as core US military program, memo says
The Chronify
The Pentagon is moving to make Palantir’s Maven Smart System an official program of record, a step that would lock the battlefield AI platform into long term use across the US military and give it steady funding through the normal defense budget process. The move was laid out in a March 9 memo from Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg and is expected to take effect by the end of the current fiscal year in September.
In the memo, Feinberg said wider use of Maven would give US forces stronger tools to detect threats, deter adversaries and support operations across multiple domains. He also ordered oversight of the system to shift from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency to the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office within 30 days, while future contracting would be handled by the Army.
Maven is a command and control platform built to analyze large volumes of battlefield data from satellites, drones, radars, sensors and intelligence reports. The Pentagon’s own AI office describes the Maven Smart System as a tactical AI platform for real time object detection, tracking and decision support in combat operations.
The decision marks another major gain for Palantir inside the defense sector. The company already holds a contract for Maven that was worth up to $480 million in 2024, and reporting last year said the contract ceiling later rose to $1.3 billion. Palantir has also won a separate Army deal worth up to $10 billion, helping drive a sharp rise in its government business and market value.
The deeper rollout of Maven is also drawing renewed scrutiny over military AI. United Nations linked warnings have said AI systems used in lethal targeting raise ethical, legal and security risks, especially where automation narrows human control. Palantir says its software does not make lethal decisions on its own and that humans remain responsible for selecting and approving targets.
One issue hanging over the expansion is Maven’s reported use of Anthropic’s Claude model. Separate reporting this week said the Pentagon has pushed for a phase out of Anthropic tools after labeling the company a supply chain risk, even though Claude is deeply embedded in some military AI workflows and would be difficult to replace quickly.
Maven is a command and control platform built to analyze large volumes of battlefield data from satellites, drones, radars, sensors and intelligence reports. The Pentagon’s own AI office describes the Maven Smart System as a tactical AI platform for real time object detection, tracking and decision support in combat operations.
The decision marks another major gain for Palantir inside the defense sector. The company already holds a contract for Maven that was worth up to $480 million in 2024, and reporting last year said the contract ceiling later rose to $1.3 billion. Palantir has also won a separate Army deal worth up to $10 billion, helping drive a sharp rise in its government business and market value.
The deeper rollout of Maven is also drawing renewed scrutiny over military AI. United Nations linked warnings have said AI systems used in lethal targeting raise ethical, legal and security risks, especially where automation narrows human control. Palantir says its software does not make lethal decisions on its own and that humans remain responsible for selecting and approving targets.
One issue hanging over the expansion is Maven’s reported use of Anthropic’s Claude model. Separate reporting this week said the Pentagon has pushed for a phase out of Anthropic tools after labeling the company a supply chain risk, even though Claude is deeply embedded in some military AI workflows and would be difficult to replace quickly.
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