Navy unveils "ShipOS" with Palantir to speed up shipbuilding

Driving the news: Navy Secretary John Phelan and Karp briefed a small group of reporters in Washington on the arrangement, which they said will improve supply chain visibility and could save months of trouble.

• "Rather than hearing about a problem that day that will stop us, we will know 60, 90, 120, 180 days in advance," the secretary said.
• The deal is valued at $448 million.

Threat level: Some of the Navy's most important assets — including the Columbia-class nuclear submarine — are delayed. Design and cost creep also contributed to the recent cancellation of four Constellation-class frigates.

Reality check: Not all of the problems plaguing American shipyards can be solved with better software.

What they're saying: "Palantir's software is operationally involved in every war zone, in almost every component of the U.S. government, and people in the U.S. government have seen it in action for a long time," Karp said.

• "Here, though, this is a hybrid of what we did on the battlefield and our commercial success."
• "This is, essentially, doing predictive work on supply chain management, where every single one of the bits involved is a special-purpose bit."

Flashback: Palantir earlier this year announced Warp Speed for Warships alongside the nonprofit BlueForge Alliance.

Go deeper: U.S. must "absorb a lot of risk" in AI race, says Palantir's Karp