AI-powered decision intelligence solutions company BigBear.ai has been awarded a contract by the Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) to advance its Virtual Anticipation Network (VANE) prototype. According to the company, this initiative will enhance the DoD's ability to analyse foreign news media and identify key geopolitical trends by leveraging custom AI models.
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VANE Strengthens National Security
VANE, initially developed with the Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD), is designed to aggregate and assess vast amounts of data to predict adversarial activity. The contract will transition the prototype into an operational tool, supporting the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and broader DoD efforts.
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AI Intelligence for Geopolitical Analysis
"The prototype award is designed to improve CDAO's ability to identify key trends and topics related to potential foreign adversarial areas of interest, enabling faster and more informed assessments of media data vital to national security. VANE was created to contrive clarity in multi-domain environments for military and government applications by aggregating and analysing vast data points, enabling predictions of adversarial activity in complex situations," the official release said.
"This award underscores the importance of leveraging cutting-edge AI technologies to address complicated geopolitical challenges," said Ryan Legge, President of National Security at BigBear.ai. "By advancing VANE within CDAO, we are arming our warfighters with sophisticated intelligence capabilities to leverage foreign insights critical to the safety of our Nation and those protecting it."
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Deployment on CDAO's Advana Platform
The project includes a transition plan to deploy VANE on CDAO's Advana platform, expanding its availability to Combatant Commands across the DoD. This follows VANE's recognition on the CDAO Tradewinds Solutions Marketplace in April 2024, marking its evolution from a research initiative to a mission-ready intelligence tool.
