Palantir Maven Army Contract: $480M Award and $1.3B Ceiling

A contract award with funding set per order

The official May 29, 2024 notice records a $480 million firm-fixed-price award to Palantir USG for the Maven Smart System prototype. Army Contracting Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground is the contracting activity. One bid was solicited and received; work locations and funding were to be determined with each order, with estimated completion on May 28, 2029. [1]

AI software with an existing operational history

Contemporary coverage describes Maven’s use of AI to analyze intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data for military users. It also reports use in the Central Command area before the award. The contract therefore should not be read as the first deployment of AI targeting or as evidence that its full headline amount was paid on signing. [2][1]

DefenseScoop’s later account traces Project Maven to 2017 and describes the 2022 division of program responsibilities among the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Office and another defense office. That wider program history is distinct from the Army’s role as the contracting activity for this award. [4]

A later increase in capacity

In May 2025, a $795 million modification expanded the Maven contract. DefenseScoop’s May 23 report describes the resulting ceiling as nearly $1.3 billion through 2029 and quotes an Army official explaining that it anticipated demand and that no acquisition decisions had been made. The report date is distinct from the modification’s occurrence, and the increased ceiling is distinct from completed purchases. [3][4]