Raft

The United States Central Command has awarded defense technology firm Raft a new contract to deploy an artificial intelligence system designed for battlefield operations, following a competitive five-day evaluation hosted by CENTCOM, the company announced on January 22. Raft received the award through an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) issued by the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, in partnership with CENTCOM, after its system outperformed competitors during a live operational test. The evaluation focused on identifying deployable AI tools that can be used directly by military operators in active mission environments. According to the company, the winning platform—known as Raft AI Mission System, or AIMS—allows military units to build, train, and deploy computer vision models without relying on data scientists or external engineering teams. The system is designed to function in forward environments and can be adapted by operators in real time as mission conditions change. Raft said its system was selected because it could be deployed rapidly and used directly by personnel in operational roles rather than remaining a back-end analytical tool. “This wasn’t about building another tool,” said Shubhi Mishra, founder and chief executive officer of Raft. “This was about rethinking how AI gets built for mission-critical environments and how we empower operators to adapt when the mission demands it.” AIMS is built as a no-code platform that allows users to create and modify machine learning models through an interface designed for non-technical personnel. The system focuses on computer vision tasks, enabling operators to process and analyze imagery from satellites, aircraft, and other sensors without waiting for centralized updates. Raft said the platform was fully containerized and deployed during the CENTCOM evaluation, allowing it to run in austere environments and integrate with existing military systems. The company confirmed that AIMS was tested using real operational workflows, including integration with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Project Maven architecture. According to Raft, the system allows models to be refreshed within days rather than weeks or months, addressing a long-standing issue in military AI programs where updates often lag behind battlefield conditions. The company said the platform supported multiple mission scenarios during testing, including wide-area satellite imagery analysis, maritime monitoring, and detection of unmanned system threats. These use cases were demonstrated without external technical support, relying solely on operators trained during the evaluation period. Raft said the system is designed to support distributed task forces operating across multiple domains, including maritime and aerial environments. During the evaluation, the platform was used to create new models for unplanned intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, including object tracking and optical threat detection. According to the company, the platform also supports common military imagery formats, including NITF, allowing it to be used with existing sensor feeds without modification. Bhaarat Sharma, chief technology officer at Raft, said the system addresses a key operational gap. “This is how you scale intelligence across the force—by putting tools in the hands of operators and giving them the autonomy to iterate in real time,” Sharma said. Raft said the system includes built-in traceability and audit features, allowing commanders to track how models are trained and deployed. The company described these controls as essential for responsible AI use in military operations, where automated systems must remain accountable to human decision-makers. With the contract award, Raft said AIMS is now positioned for broader deployment across other U.S. combatant commands. The company did not disclose the value of the OTA or the number of systems to be fielded, but confirmed that the agreement allows for rapid follow-on deployments if operational demand increases. The Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office was established to accelerate the adoption of AI across the U.S. Department of War, particularly for operational and tactical use. CENTCOM has been among the most active commands in testing AI-enabled tools due to its continuous operational tempo and distributed force structure. Raft said the system’s design is intended to reduce reliance on centralized AI development pipelines, allowing units to adapt models locally as threats evolve. The company described this approach as critical for modern conflict environments, where adversary tactics change faster than traditional software update cycles.

Raft

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Raft

U.S. military adopts Raft system for battlefield computer vision tasks

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