{"id":14292,"date":"2020-01-15T13:01:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T13:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/15\/a-new-artificial-intelligence-contract-to-keep-planes-flying\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T17:46:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T17:46:04","slug":"a-new-artificial-intelligence-contract-to-keep-planes-flying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/artificial-intelligence\/2020\/01\/15\/a-new-artificial-intelligence-contract-to-keep-planes-flying\/","title":{"rendered":"A new artificial intelligence contract to keep planes flying"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Pentagon\u2019s Silicon Valley outpost awarded a California-based artificial intelligence company a contract for software that predicts when military aircraft will need repairs \u2014 a tool that would make more aircraft available for missions and could potentially save billions of dollars in maintenance costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deal, announced Jan. 15, is between the Defense Innovation Unit and C3.ai, is worth as much as $95 million and is expected to run for five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late 2017, just 90 days after first meeting with Department of Defense officials, C3.ai reached a prototype agreement to evaluate and process maintenance records from the E-3 Sentry (AWACS) and to plan for repairs. The deal was later extended for the evaluation to include the C-5 Galaxy and eventually the F-35. That prototype period ended in December. During that period, C3.ai was able to predict about one-third of unscheduled maintenance events to subsystems, Defense Department officials said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was a real test of the application to show that it could scale to really any aircraft, not just in the Air Force, but in the Department of Defense,\u201d said Lt. Col. Travis Burton, a product manager at DIU who worked on the prototype.<\/p>\n\n\n\t