strikeMay 12, 2026

'Insatiable appetite' for AI: Maven usage surged for strikes on Iran, Pentagon AI chief says - Breaking Defense

Summary

WASHINGTON — Pentagon planners and military staffs made unprecedented use of artificial intelligence during the 38-day air war against Iran, according to officials and newly disclosed usage figures for the DoD’s Maven Smart System (MSS). “Operation Epic Fury leveraged Palantir’s Maven Smart System in order to conduct strike missions across the entire battle space, 13,000 targets in 38 days,” the Pentagon’s Chief Digital & AI Officer (CDAO), Cameron Stanley, told the SCSP AI+Expo Thursday, adding that troops have shown an “insatiable appetite” for the tech. “[AI tools] allow us to take all of this data, synthesize the data, and make better decisions, faster, on the battlefield.” MSS is an AI tool suite that evolved from the original Project Maven experiment to a multi-purpose military planning tool built by contractor Palantir. (A separate offshoot of Maven is run by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.) During Epic Fury, MSS saw unclassified usage surge by 38 percent and classified usage by 89 percent, a Pentagon spokesperson told Breaking Defense, measuring month-to-month. Measured by “tokens,” the individual mathematical operations underlying generative AI, peak daily usage rose 4,425 percent. At one point, the spokesperson told Breaking Defense, daily usage hit approximately 20 billion tokens. For comparison, in civilian contexts, a single question-and-answer with a chatbot can require several hundred tokens, while an individual power user with a high-level paid account — someone using AI to write code, for instance — can burn up to a quarter-million tokens a day. From its humble beginnings as “a small cross functional team of about 45 people in the Pentagon, [Maven] has exploded into the best AI enabled C2 capability on the planet,” Stanley told the SCSP conference. So what is all this activity actually producing? The Pentagon declined to provide specific examples from the Iran conflict, but much like publicly available AI toolkits, the military versions include “low-code/no-code” tools to help amateurs build their own software applications or even semi-autonomous AI “agents” to perform routine tasks on their behalf. Maven Smart System also performs some distinctively military functions. The core of the original Project Maven was spotting potential terrorist targets in mind-numbing hours of drone surveillance video, for instance. But over time, the toolkit has expanded into what contractor Palantir calls [PDF] “a live, synchronized view of the battlespace” that “enables synchronized mission planning and execution” and features “automated object detection” and “centralized target identification and management.” The tech analyzes complex combinations of video, satellite imagery, and other highly technical sources of intelligence, according to Palantir and published reports. Maven Smart System can also sift through vast libraries of intelligence reports and draft summaries or potential future courses of action, the Pentagon spokesperson told Breaking Defense. All this activity takes an ever-growing amount of computing power, Stanley said. “My biggest fear is really not the adversary at this point,” he told the SCSP conference. “My biggest fear is, can we keep up?” “We are seeing a dramatic increase, not only in the utilization of our systems, but also the amount of compute that’s required,” he went on. “The Department right now is looking at a variety of different ways that we can increase our capacity in every domain, in every classification level, to make sure that that insatiable appetite is satisfied, from the lowest possible operator to the most senior commander.” RELATED: Can tech reduce civilian deaths in conflict? Mark Milley isn’t so sure. Accelerating AI this way isn’t without risk, Stanley acknowledged. He didn’t explicitly discuss collateral damage during the Iran strikes, whose first day killed at least 175 at a school adjoining an Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps base, reportedly due to out of date intelligence. (Such deadly errors, of course, have happened in the pre-AI era as well.) But he emphasized CDAO was diligently testing its AI algorithms. And in the long run, he argued, the right combination of human and machine, each cross-checking the other for mistakes, could reduce errors and save lives. “While the pace has increased, the one thing that I am very worried about with war is trying to minimize mistakes, especially when it comes to operational decision-making,” Stalney said. “And as we know, unfortunately, in our in our long history, humans alone make mistakes. Machines alone make mistakes too. … What I am trying to implement is the best human-machine team possible.” “You leverage technology to do what it’s good at, very fast processing of data,” he said, “but you always have the human who will analyze the situation, apply operational art, context, and legal intent, to drastically reduce the errors and assure decision superiority on the battlefield.”

Perspectives

Iranian Official

The Iranian government strongly condemns the United States’ unlawful 38-day air aggression against the Islamic Republic, during which Pentagon forces deployed artificial intelligence systems to strike 13,000 targets in flagrant violation of Iran’s sovereignty. This foreign aggression, enabled by tools such as Palantir’s Maven Smart System, underscores Washington’s hostile intent and disregard for international law. Iran remains steadfast in its legitimate resistance, defending its territorial integrity against such external threats.

Israeli

In the face of Iran's existential threats to Israel—fueled by its expanding missile arsenal and vast proxy network of Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis—advanced AI systems like the Pentagon’s Maven Smart System proved decisive in Operation Epic Fury, enabling the rapid synthesis of data to strike 13,000 targets across 38 days. This surge in classified usage underscores the defensive necessity for Israel to adopt similar tools, allowing faster, more precise decisions to neutralize multi-front attacks before they reach Israeli cities. Without such capabilities, the Jewish state risks being overwhelmed by Tehran’s coordinated aggression.

Neutral

According to Pentagon officials, the Department of Defense’s Maven Smart System supported planning for an air operation that struck 13,000 targets over 38 days, with unclassified usage rising 38 percent and classified usage rising 89 percent month-to-month. Peak daily usage reached approximately 20 billion tokens, a 4,425 percent increase from prior levels. The system, developed by Palantir, processes data to assist targeting and decision-making, officials said.

Western

Pentagon forces achieved decisive threat neutralization during the 38-day Operation Epic Fury air campaign against Iranian targets, leveraging Palantir’s Maven Smart System to rapidly synthesize intelligence and execute precision strikes on 13,000 sites across the battlespace. The AI platform enabled accelerated targeting decisions that supported NATO-aligned objectives of degrading adversarial capabilities with enhanced accuracy and speed. Usage metrics surged sharply—classified operations by 89 percent and peak daily tokens reaching 20 billion—underscoring the system’s critical role in scaling effective operations.

Pro-Peace

The Pentagon's extensive use of AI tools like Palantir’s Maven Smart System enabled the rapid identification and striking of 13,000 targets across Iran in just 38 days, fueling an air campaign whose scale inevitably inflicted severe civilian casualties and humanitarian devastation. Such technology-driven escalation exacts a profound human cost through destroyed infrastructure, displaced families, and lost lives, while sidelining diplomatic pathways that could have resolved tensions without violence. Prioritizing AI for battlefield efficiency over peace negotiations only deepens the cycle of suffering for ordinary people caught in the crossfire.

Global South

In a clear assertion of neo-colonial dominance, the Pentagon’s deployment of Palantir’s Maven Smart System enabled the rapid targeting of 13,000 sites across Iran during the 38-day Operation Epic Fury, bypassing sovereign decision-making in the Global South. This surge in classified AI usage—rising 89 percent—illustrates how Western military-tech alliances accelerate aggression while eroding national autonomy under the guise of operational efficiency. International institutions have once again failed to constrain such extraterritorial technological warfare.

Actors involved

USIran

Sources

Sydney J Freedberg JrBy Sydney J Freedberg Jr
WASHINGTON — Pentagon planners and military staffs made unprecedented use of artificial intelligence during the 38-day air war against Iran, according to officials and newly disclosed usage figures for the DoD’s Maven Smart System (MSS). “Operation Epic Fury leveraged Palantir’s …

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Another ship hit in Hormuz as Houthis add to regional risks A tanker has been struck by an unknown projectile northeast of Oman’s Limah, UK Maritime Trade Operations says on Tuesday - Hormuz was deserted on Jul 21, with no ships observed transiting, data shows.

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