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The Pentagon has formalised agreements with seven major technology firms to integrate artificial intelligence into its most sensitive classified networks, pointedly excluding the startup Anthropic from the initiative.
SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services will now provide the technology powering the Defence Department systems for mission planning and weapons targeting.
These deals utilise a strategic mix of closed and open-source models to ensure the military remains operationally flexible and avoids over-reliance on a single commercial provider.
The exclusion of Anthropic follows a heated dispute over military guardrails; the startup recently objected to its AI being used for mass domestic surveillance or the direct control of autonomous lethal weapons.
In response, the Pentagon labelled Anthropic a supply-chain risk, and President Trump issued a directive to “immediately cease” using their technology.
While Anthropic’s “Claude” model is currently the only one authorised for classified operations, the military is actively weaning itself off the platform as the company challenges these punitive measures in court.
This expansion is a core component of the administration’s push for an “AI-first fighting force” designed to accelerate situational awareness and warfighter decision-making.
The Pentagon reported that its official AI platform, GenAI.mil, has already seen massive internal adoption, deploying hundreds of thousands of agents in just five months.
Despite the deal’s official status, internal resistance remains a factor, as evidenced by hundreds of Google employees recently demanding the company reject the contract due to ethical concerns regarding AI’s role in the “kill chain.”
