| Abbreviation | AWCFT |
|---|---|
| Nickname | Project Maven |
| Formation | April 26, 2017 |
| Founder | Robert O. Work |
| Type | Department of Defense cross-functional team |
| Legal status | Active |
| Purpose | Adoption of machine learning and data integration for military intelligence workflows and automatic target recognition |
Key people | Col. Drew Cukor Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan VADM Frank "Trey" Whitworth |
Parent organization | National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency |
Project Maven, officially designated as the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team, is a United States Department of Defense initiative launched in 2017. Its primary objective is to expedite the integration of machine learning and advanced data analytics into U.S. military intelligence operations, with a particular emphasis on intelligence gathering, surveillance, target acquisition, reconnaissance, and geospatial intelligence. Initially, the project concentrated on leveraging computer vision technologies to analyse images and videos for intelligence purposes. Today, the programme operates under the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and extends across multiple applications within the Department of Defense, including military targeting assistance, data integration and visualisation for analysts, and the training of machine learning models using labelled datasets of military assets and infrastructure. The system aggregates data from drones, satellites, and other sensors to identify potential targets, present findings to human analysts, and facilitate their decisions within operational frameworks.
The initiative was conceived under the leadership of Deputy Secretary Robert O. Work, who highlighted concerns regarding China’s advancements in defence-related artificial intelligence applications. Colonel Drew Cukor, USMC, and Lieutenant General Jack Shanahan, who led the project, emphasised that Maven was designed as a human-in-the-loop decision support system rather than an autonomous weapons platform.
Key contractors involved in Project Maven have included Google, which withdrew from the programme in 2018 following internal employee protests, as well as subsequent integrators such as Palantir, Anduril, Amazon Web Services, and Anthropic, which exited in 2026.
The Pentagon has acknowledged Maven’s role in providing targeting support for U.S. airstrikes conducted in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen in 2024, as well as in identifying hostile maritime assets in the Red Sea.
References[edit source]
External links[edit source]
- "How Project Maven Put A.I. Into the Kill Chain" by Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, April 15, 2026
- Frontdoor Defense (2 October 2024). Ep 22: How Project Maven Delivered AI to the Army. Retrieved 15 November 2024 – via YouTube., interview with Emmy Probasco of CSET, and Joe O'Callaghan, the AI Fires Officer for the 18th Airborne Corps.
