Finding · Contracts
Palantir accounts for most of the rise in AI-tagged defense contract obligations
Palantir accounts for most of the rise in AI-tagged defense contract obligations
Obligations on contract actions the Department of War funded that name AI, or that its Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) paid for. Oct. 1 to June 30 of each fiscal year, $ millions.
- Everyone else
- Palantir
FY2025Oct.–June · $775M
FY2026Oct.–June · $1,215M, +57%
One Palantir task order
Without Palantir: $542M to $564M, +4%.
The record describes the order as a "CDAO MSS TASK ORDER". The department's budget overview spells out MSS as the Maven Smart System.
Source: USAspending.gov contract transactions; Department of War FY2027 budget overview. Data as of Oct. 6, 2026.
Across AI-tagged defense contracts, obligations rose 57%. Take Palantir out of both years and the increase shrinks to 4%.
Free to use with credit to TGOs and a link. License: CC BY 4.0.
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Cite as: TGOs, "Palantir accounts for most of the rise in AI-tagged defense contract obligations," October 10, 2026, https://tgos.io/findings/ai-palantir/.
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