WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Defense requested more than $2 billion for the Mission Command Applications program in its fiscal 2027 budget, with over $1.5 billion designated to expand access to Palantir’s Maven Smart System. The funding supports the department’s Joint Force AI-Enabled Headquarters initiative and includes $60 million for the Virtual Joint Operations Center (VJOC) initiative.
The budget documents state that the Department of Defense plans to consolidate “software-centric C2 onto a single pane of glass” over the next fiscal year. Officials wrote that the fiscal 2027 increase reflects the transition of Joint Command and Control (C2) from a rapidly deployed product to a program of record for the Department’s enterprise joint warfighting capability.
Officials wrote that funding will expand enterprise access to Joint C2 capabilities across military services and echelons, provide sustained development and enterprise-wide integration, streamline acquisition, establish testing standards, and create accountability for performance. They added that the funding will enable maturation of the Joint C2 capability from fragmented deployments to Joint enterprise tooling fully supported across all domains. Officials also wrote that funding will advance a globally interconnected environment for operations, planning, and intelligence workflows supported by shared access to real-time battlespace data.
The proposed $1.5 billion allocation would expand access to the Maven Smart System “across the Joint Force and Services in support of the Department’s Joint Force AI-Enabled Headquarters initiative,” according to officials. They described the Maven Smart System as a “cloud-based mission command application that aggregates thousands of discrete data streams into AI-enabled workflows, securing decision advantage across all domains.”
On March 9, Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg elevated the Maven Smart System to an official Pentagon program of record. The Department of Defense awarded Palantir an initial $480 million, five-year IDIQ contract for the system in May 2024, and increased the contract ceiling to nearly $1.3 billion through 2029 in May 2025. Department officials stated that the increase was made in anticipation of future demand.
Officials wrote that the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Office will “leverage VJOC to provide a browser-based virtual command center for real-time situational awareness for low-connectivity users at the tactical edge.” They noted that the Virtual Joint Operations Center will augment “cloud-based mission command applications, including Maven Smart System, with low-connectivity, tactical-edge functionality.”
Little has been disclosed publicly about the Joint Force AI-Enabled Headquarters initiative and the VJOC initiative as of the time of the budget release. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to share more information about the initiatives with DefenseScoop.