Palantir wins $229 million Army Research Lab contract extension

WASHINGTON — Palantir Technologies, a maker of data analytics software specializing in defense and intelligence gathering, said the U.S. Army Research Lab will expand its work with the company to support all branches of the forces. armies, joint staff and special forces during their tests. , use and evolve artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.

The contract is worth up to $229 million over one year, the Denver-based company said in a statement.

Palantir’s software will support warfighters, the data science community, and commercial AI companies in all facets of AI/ML research and development within the U.S. Department of Defense. This expansion will allow the Pentagon to extend these capabilities to additional mission areas as well as emerging priorities, he said.

“Our work with ARL has enabled users on the ground to accelerate the use of AI/ML to support some of the most critical national security challenges facing our country and our allies today,” said Shannon Clark, Senior Vice President of Innovation, Federal, in the release.

The company first partnered with the Army Research Lab in 2018 to provide operational data and AI capabilities. Palantir’s platform has since supported the integration, management and deployment of relevant AI data and model training to all Armed Services, COCOMs and Special Operators globally, it said. -he declares.

Palantir has been involved in Project Maven, a Pentagon effort to develop artificial intelligence capabilities that could help flag and decipher aerial surveillance imagery. In June, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hosted the company’s CEO, Alex Karp, in Kyiv, where they discussed Russian cyberattacks, defense cooperation and the opening of a headquarters.

US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command lack the AI ​​capabilities needed to do their job to the fullest and maintain an edge over rival nations, the heads of the two organizations said earlier this year.

“My assessment today is that I don’t have what I need, in terms of artificial intelligence and machine learning, to give the decision space to the president, the secretary of defense, to the Chief of the Defense Staff in Canada, to the Minister of Defense and to the Prime Minister in Canada,” U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck said at a Defense Writers Group event in late April.

In fiscal year 2022, Congress launched a $200 million program to drive the adoption of AI in combatant commands, in alignment with the Pentagon’s AI and Data Acceleration, or ADA, initiative. .