Palantir's $10 billion Army contract continues its D.C. win streak

The U.S. Army is consolidating 75 contracts into a single arrangement with Palantir Technologies worth as much as $10 billion — a move the service said will accelerate deliveries and eliminate middleman fees.Why it matters: The 10-year deal is evidence of three things, closely related:The ascendancy of Palantir in Washington and at the Pentagon, in particular. (At an AI summit last month, President Trump remarked, "We buy a lot of things from Palantir.")The changing ways militaries are trying and buying products, especially software.The maturing D.C.-Silicon Valley relationship, which was on the rocks not too long ago.The big picture: The Army and other services have for years fought to streamline networks, intelligence, safeguards and IT, all while contending with a crush of data in the boardroom and on the battlefield.Solicitation documents noted the Army was expending significant administrative and financial resources managing dozens of "procurement actions tied to the integration of proven commercially available Palantir capabilities."Follow the money: This is Palantir's single largest known contract cap.What they're saying: The deal "reflects a broader shift in recognizing that software isn't a support function — it's core to operational readiness," Wendy Anderson, a former Palantir executive and chief of staff to the late Defense Secretary Ash Carter, told Axios."This agreement sets a precedent for how government and industry can partner to deliver real capability at speed and scale — and others across the department should follow suit."Zoom out: Palantir is leaning hard into defense work. Chief executive Alex Karp has made it no secret he wants the West to dominate.Last year, the company bested RTX for a $178 million Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node contract. It's delivering the kitted-out trucks alongside partners Anduril Industries, Northrop Grumman and L3Harris Technologies.Other wins include an AI research-and-development deal in 2023, worth $250 million, and a predictive maintenance and supply chain agreement in 2022, worth $85 million.Flashback: Palantir successfully sued the Army in 2016. Times have changed.What's next: Expect more of these bulk buys moving forward.Go deeper: The Pentagon's software-hardware tug of war