France readies AI-powered combat data-management similar to US ‘Maven’

PARIS — France’s armed forces are working on a data-management system powered by artificial intelligence as a sovereign equivalent to the U.S. Defense Department’s Project Maven, said Gen. Benoît Desmeulles, the commander of the French 1st Army Corps.

The armed forces are working with partners on a system to provide what Desmeulles called “true distributed working capability” centered on data and using advanced AI, “a sovereign system that will essentially be the equivalent of Maven.”

The system could be available within a few months, and available for exercises in September 2027, the general said, declining to provide specifics.

Project Maven is a Pentagon program that uses AI to process drone and surveillance data to automatically detect and track objects, using technology provided by contractors including Palantir Technologies. Maven has faced controversy amid questions about AI-assisted targeting in Iran, with concerns about speed, accountability, and harm to civilians related to automated kill chains.

“We’ve really positioned data as the center of everything we do,” Desmeulles said in a briefing with three reporters on Saturday at the Montmorillon military camp in western France, describing data as the ammunition of the command post.

“The centrality of data is something that’s well understood by the corps, the Army, and the French forces,” he said. “So, we’re really focused on that.”

The armed forces are on track to develop “a true distributed working capability, based on highly advanced artificial intelligence and centered on data,” Desmeulles said. “We’re following that logic, to remain sovereign, and that’s an area where we are strong.”

Desmeulles said his corps is already seeing “very, very good” results from a data-centric approach, even if there is “still a little way to go before it’s practically perfect in my eyes.”

France has several AI companies that are active in defense, including Comand AI, ChapsVision and Safran’s AI business, and is also home to a major developer of large-language models with Mistral AI. France in 2024 created an agency under the Armed Forces Ministry that works on AI for defense.