Maven Smart System
The Pentagon's AI targeting brain — Palantir-built software that fuses hundreds of intelligence feeds, uses computer vision and large language models to find and track targets, and runs the whole sensor-to-shooter loop. In the Iran war the US says it helped strike ~1,000 targets in a day.
The US military's AI targeting and intelligence-fusion software — Palantir-built, the operational product of Project Maven — that pulls hundreds of sensor feeds into one map, uses computer vision and large language models to detect and track targets, and runs the full find-to-strike loop. The clearest working example of the Pentagon's long-sought "all-domain command and control."
Overview
The Maven Smart System (MSS) is the US Department of Defense's flagship AI-enabled command-and-control, intelligence-fusion and targeting software, built and integrated by Palantir. It is the productized output of Project Maven, the 2017 Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team: MSS fuses dozens-to-hundreds of ISR and sensor feeds into a single map-based interface, applies computer vision and a large-language-model layer (Palantir's AIP) to detect, classify and track targets, then supports the entire sensor-to-shooter chain — detection, course-of-action, asset selection, strike and battle-damage assessment — "all from one system." It is being elevated to a formal program of record across the department by the end of FY2026, and is widely described as the most credible real implementation of CJADC2 (combined joint all-domain command and control). (Caveat: most of MSS's headline performance figures are US-government or contractor claims, on classified systems — read them as such.)
Development
Project Maven (the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team) was established by Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work on 26 April 2017 to bring computer vision to drone full-motion video. Google was the early technical partner and withdrew in 2018 after employee protests; Palantir stepped in and has been the prime software integrator since, with Anduril (edge/sensor fusion), AWS (cloud) and, until 2026, Anthropic (LLM) also integrating. Oversight sat with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency before a March 2026 directive (the "Feinberg memo," 9 March 2026) moved MSS toward a department-wide program of record under the Chief Digital and AI Office (CDAO) and onto the Army's enterprise contract vehicle. The system iterated rapidly during US intelligence support to Ukraine after 2022 and during Middle East operations.
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