The named programs
Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), US Air Force. Anduril's YFQ-44A Fury and General Atomics' YFQ-42A selected in April 2024 for Increment 1. Fury first flight occurred 2025. Fixed-price development, production funding requested in FY2026 budget. The pre-2024 expectation was Lockheed + Boeing; the actual selection went to a 2017 startup and the Reaper-builder.
Project Maven, DOD CDAO. Palantir won the prime contract in May 2024 (5-year, up to $480M) for the computer-vision component originally hosted by Google before Google's 2018 withdrawal. Maven processes overhead-imagery for combatant commands.
Replicator Initiative, DOD (announced August 2023 by Deputy Secretary Hicks). Goal: field thousands of attritable autonomous systems within 18-24 months. First-tranche selections in early 2024 included Anduril Altius-600, Switchblade-600 (AeroVironment), and several maritime autonomous platforms. The deliberate framing: counter the PLA's mass advantage with software-defined US mass.
Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) + service implementations (Air Force ABMS, Army Project Convergence, Navy Project Overmatch). The data-fabric ambition that ties every sensor and shooter into one decision loop. Palantir AIP, Anduril Lattice, and Shield AI Hivemind compete (and increasingly cooperate) on the implementation surface.
European programs. Helsing (Germany) building combat-AI for Eurofighter, Saab Gripen, and Patria AMV. Anduril Europe + UK Ministry of Defence on autonomous systems. France's Mistral AI partnership with the French armed forces. The European defense-AI market is real and growing fast under post-2022 Ukraine pressure.
What ships
(1) ISR analysis — computer vision on overhead imagery, signals analysis, OSINT fusion. Project Maven, Palantir Gotham, Scale Donovan. (2) Autonomous platforms — Fury, Switchblade, Saildrone, Anduril Roadrunner, Shield AI V-BAT. (3) Decision support — Palantir AIP-for-Defense, Anduril Lattice, generating COA (course-of-action) options for commanders. (4) Logistics + sustainment — predictive maintenance on military aircraft + ground vehicles; less press but largest production deployment. (5) Cyber defense + offense (public-info) — the named platforms are CISA/DOD CDAO doctrines + tools like Mandiant Threat Intelligence Platform; offensive tooling is classified and outside public scope.
Receipts
- USAF Press Release, April 24, 2024 — Anduril + General Atomics selected for CCA Increment 1.
- DOD CDAO contract announcement, May 30, 2024 — Palantir prime on Project Maven Smart System ($480M ceiling).
- DOD News, August 28, 2023 — Deputy Secretary Hicks announcing Replicator initiative.
- DOD AI Adoption Strategy, November 2023 — the official roadmap document.
- CRS R47564, The Department of Defense's Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2), 2023 updates.
- Anduril Industries press releases + investor materials (private but partially disclosed via the $1.5B Series F in August 2024).
- DOD Directive 3000.09, Autonomy in Weapon Systems, January 2023 update — the human-in-the-loop policy framework.
Sector limits
Acquisition cycles are still measured in years. Even fast programs like Replicator slipped past initial targets. The defense industrial base remains supply-chain-constrained on solid rocket motors, microelectronics, and shipbuilding capacity that no AI overlay fixes. International export controls (ITAR, EAR) limit who can buy what, with real downstream effects on the smaller AI defense firms' market.