The Department of War announced agreements on Friday with seven leading artificial intelligence companies to deploy their capabilities on classified networks.
The deals, detailed in a May 1 release, involve SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, NVIDIA, Reflection, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services. The partnerships aim to integrate secure frontier AI into Impact Level 6 and Impact Level 7 network environments for lawful operational use.
Officials said the move accelerates the military’s transformation into an AI-first fighting force. It will strengthen warfighters’ ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare by streamlining data synthesis, elevating situational understanding, and augmenting decision-making in complex environments.
All seven companies will provide resources for deployment on both network levels. The effort supports the department’s AI Acceleration Strategy across warfighting, intelligence, and enterprise operations.
GenAI.mil, the department’s official AI platform, has seen over 1.3 million personnel generate tens of millions of prompts and deploy hundreds of thousands of agents in five months. Warfighters, civilians, and contractors already use the tools to reduce many tasks from months to days, the release stated.
The department plans an architecture that avoids AI vendor lock-in and ensures long-term flexibility for the Joint Force. Access to diverse capabilities from the American technology stack will equip warfighters against any threat.
Department leaders and partners agree that American AI leadership is vital to national security. It relies on a thriving domestic ecosystem of model developers. President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have mandated the expansion of advanced AI for warfighters to counter emerging threats and bolster the Arsenal of Freedom.
The announcement comes less than four months after President Donald Trump mandated that the Department of War launch an Artificial Intelligence Acceleration Strategy to establish the U.S. military as the world’s leading AI-enabled fighting force, as The Dallas Express reported in January.
Notably missing from the lineup of participating technology companies is the AI firm Anthropic, which declared in February that it cannot allow the Pentagon unlimited access to its Claude AI on ethical grounds. CEO Dario Armodei had expressed concerns that the company’s technology could be used for widespread surveillance of the American public or for fully independent lethal systems, according to The Dallas Express.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell responded on social media, “The Department of War has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans (which is illegal) nor do we want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons that operate without human involvement.”
“… We will not let ANY company dictate the terms regarding how we make operational decisions,” Parnell added.
In August 2025, Parnell announced that the Pentagon would slash its Defense Technology Information Center workforce by nearly 80% as it implemented artificial intelligence systems. The personnel cuts would purportedly save taxpayers $25 million per year, increase efficiency, and streamline operations, The Dallas Express reported.
