Following agreements with Google, SpaceX, and OpenAI, the U.S. Defense Department announced on Friday that it has finalized deals with Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Reflection AI. These partnerships allow the military to deploy their artificial intelligence technologies and models on classified networks for "lawful operational use."

The statement explains, "These agreements accelerate the transformation toward establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force and will strengthen our warfighters’ ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare." This development comes as the Pentagon has been broadening its range of AI vendors, following a contentious dispute with Anthropic over how its AI models could be used. The Defense Department wanted unrestricted access to Anthropic’s tools, but the AI company insisted on safeguards to prevent its technology from being applied to domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. The two parties are currently locked in a legal battle, though Anthropic secured a court injunction in March against the Pentagon’s attempt to label the company a "supply chain risk."

The statement further reads, "The Department will continue to build an architecture that prevents AI vendor lock-in and ensures long-term flexibility for the Joint Force. Access to a diverse suite of AI capabilities from across the resilient American technology stack will give warfighters the tools they need to act with confidence and safeguard the nation against any threat."

The DoD specified that the companies’ AI hardware and models will be deployed in Impact Level 6 (IL6) and Impact Level 7 (IL7) environments. These are high-security classifications for data and information systems considered critical to national security, requiring physical protection, strict access controls, and regular audits. The goal is to "streamline data synthesis, elevate situational understanding, and augment warfighter decision-making." So far, the Pentagon reports that more than 1.3 million DoD personnel have used its secure enterprise platform for generative AI, known as GenAI.mil. This platform provides access to large language models (LLMs) and other AI tools within government-approved cloud environments, primarily assisting with non-classified tasks such as research, document drafting, and data analysis.