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BlueForge and Palantir to Create "Warp Speed for Warships" With AI

Rudder
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Published Jul 2, 2025 6:18 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

On Wednesday, the nonprofit BlueForge Alliance - a heavily-funded program intended to help revitalize Navy submarine construction - announced that it is now working with leading commercial AI firm Palantir Technologies on a program to accelerate "warship production, fleet readiness, and digital transformation." 

The idea is to use Palantir's existing Warp Speed operating system for manufacturers in order to better connect up shipbuilders, suppliers and other partners in the shipbuilding supply chain in a "digitally connected manufacturing ecosystem." 

BFA has already been working with Palantir on "high-velocity shipbuilding," and the new program launch expands on that work. The initiative is funded by the Navy through the Maritime Industrial Base Program; it parallels recent efforts by HII to work with C3 AI on AI-driven production scheduling at Ingalls and Newport News Shipbuilding.  

“Our strategic partnership with Palantir is about moving with urgency and precision -- equipping America’s industrial base with the tools it needs to meet unprecedented demand,” said Kiley Wren, BlueForge co-chief executive officer, in a statement included in the release. “With the Warp Speed for Warships program, together with our nation’s shipbuilders and suppliers, we’re helping the Navy deliver the modern digital infrastructure required to scale production."

BlueForge Alliance is based in College Station, Texas, and is best known for its BuildSubmarines.com advertising campaign. Last year, the Navy handed the BlueForge Alliance a contract worth nearly $1 billion to strengthen worker recruitment and resourcing for the U.S. submarine industrial base. The gaps in the nuclear submarine workforce are among the Navy's biggest procurement concerns: The Navy's sub suppliers need to increase production fivefold in order to meet strategic needs, and the deadline for ramping up is just four years away. The Navy is on a tight timetable to build replacements for the aging Ohio-class ballistic missile subs while also delivering more Virginia-class boats.