News

Defense Department Awards AI Contracts to Leading Tech Firms to Boost National Security Capabilities

• By John K. Waters
• 07/14/2025

The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded contracts worth up to $200 million each to four American artificial intelligence firms—Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and xAI—in a bid to accelerate the deployment of advanced AI capabilities across a range of military and government operations, the Pentagon said on Monday.

The contracts, announced by the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), are aimed at harnessing the expertise of so-called frontier AI companies—firms at the forefront of developing cutting-edge AI models and exploring both the potential and risks of such technologies.

"The adoption of AI is transforming the Department’s ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries," Chief Digital and AI Officer Dr. Doug Matty said in a statement.

Commercial Tech, National Security Applications
The awards will enable the Department of Defense (DoD) to build AI-powered agentic workflows across a wide array of mission areas, including warfighting, intelligence analysis, business processes, and enterprise information systems.

Dr. Matty said the DoD’s "commercial-first" approach is designed to integrate AI solutions developed by industry leaders into national security operations, citing a growing urgency to maintain the United States’ technological edge in defense.

"Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our Joint mission essential tasks" Matty said.

The CDAO stated that partnerships with the selected companies will expand the Department’s operational experience with AI tools and allow the firms to better understand defense-specific use cases.

AI Tools for the Defense Enterprise
Alongside the new contract awards, the Pentagon is already deploying generative AI (GenAI) tools across various DoD platforms. These include large language model services for the Joint Staff and Combatant Commands via the Army’s Enterprise Large Language Model Workspace powered by Ask Sage.

Broader access is also being provided through the integration of AI into key platforms like the Advancing Analytics (Advana) platform, the Maven Smart System, and Edge Data Mesh nodes. These systems enable real-time AI-driven decision support directly within operational data environments.

The DoD is also collaborating with the General Services Administration to streamline AI technology procurement across the federal government, with the goal of maximizing efficiency and buying power in acquiring compute and production resources.

Speeding Up Defense Tech Acquisition
The contract awards were issued under the CDAO’s organic acquisition authority, which allows the office to bypass traditional procurement processes to meet emerging technological and operational needs.

"These awards demonstrate that DoD acquisition can move at the speed of emerging technology and operational necessity," the CDAO said in a statement.

Founded to accelerate AI, analytics, and data adoption "from the boardroom to the battlefield," the CDAO continues to play a central role in the Department’s modernization strategy.

For more information, the CDAO directed the public to its website at www.ai.mil and to its official social media accounts on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).