Navy program turns ships into continuous data pipelines for AI development
The Navy is using a new pathfinder capability that continuously gathers and manages large amounts of data that the sea service can use to build better artificial intelligence algorithms and autonomous systems.
AI company Applied Intuition announced Thursday that it has delivered the first Data Edge Collection Kit (DECK) to the Navy. The nascent effort is being managed by the service’s portfolio acquisition executive for robotic and autonomous systems, and broadly looks to field large-scale data engines that ingest battlefield information and turn it into AI-ready data for sailors, according to Jason Brown, general manager of defense at Applied Intuition.
“I can’t really overstate how important large volumes of data are required to make AI work,” Brown told DefenseScoop on Wednesday. “The amount of data used to train ChatGPT or any [large language model] is just unbelievable. … So everything that’s out there in the operating environment should be gathering data for AI solutions.”
Leaders at the Pentagon have been discussing how to leverage advancements in artificial intelligence for military use cases for years, but the second Trump administration has called on the entire department to lean more into the technology. Ongoing efforts like GenAI.mil are designed to make these types of tools a part of everyday workflows, while others are using more tailored AI capabilities for specific missions.
For the Navy, leaders have emphasized that AI will be a critical element to developing a software-designed future force known as Golden Fleet. During the WEST Conference in February, Secretary of the Navy John Phelan emphasized that deploying DECK is one of the first steps to the transformation.
“It turns ships into learning systems, not static platforms, enabling an iterative and adaptable feedback loop with legacy bespoke architectures that historically have evolved only through programmatic redesign,” Phelan said.
The service’s legacy infrastructure is unable to rapidly collect and process raw data at high speeds — meaning most of its autonomous systems use manual tactics for key functions. DECK is designed to address these gaps by acting as a direct data pipeline and rapidly updating software-defined systems automatically.
DECK uses sensors to continuously collect thousands of hours of operational environment information, which is then processed by the kit and transformed into AI-ready data that is used to update other systems onboard a ship, Brown explained.
“The best thing I can do is compare it to driverless cars,” he said. “The reason that driverless cars are a solved problem is because there is a data engine that enables AI-development on a continuous basis. The data engine is gathering initial data for training of algorithms around perception, planning and control. And then it’s continually updated.”
Brown noted that deploying DECK onto ships is a major development for the Navy’s ability to integrate advanced AI tools in austere environments with minimal infrastructure. Furthermore, the program will be key to realizing the sea service’s goal of developing a software-defined fleet, he added.
“You can project in the future what sort of capabilities it will enable,” Brown said. “It’s a significant investment, but it’s a relatively nascent program and it’s about building out the foundation that enables all the applications that eventually will affect that sailor’s ability.”
Updated on March 19, 2026, at 9:35 AM: A previous version of this story misstated the first name of the general manager of defense at Applied Intuition. The story has been updated to correct that.
