Jane Edwards 
ECS has served as the AI Interoperability Integrator, or AI3, for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s Maven Program since 2017, leveraging artificial intelligence capabilities to transform intelligence and defense operations.
In an article on its website, ECS said the AI initiative, formerly known as Project Maven, was initially overseen by the Department of Defense’s Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team.
NGA took over the GEOINT aspects of the Maven Program in 2023. The program seeks to protect U.S. joint warfighters and maintain decision advantage on the battlefield by integrating AI and computer vision capabilities into military analytic workflows to process large volumes of videos, images and data to help detect, identify or classify objects of interest.
“Maven has always been more than a program,” said John Heneghan, president of ECS.
“It’s a philosophy and a promise — one rooted in bringing frontier AI capabilities to the most pressing challenges in national security. ECS’ role as a lead Maven prime contractor since 2017 has been to deliver results. In doing so, Maven has become a cornerstone of the DoD’s AI strategy. It’s a testament to what’s possible when innovation meets purpose,” added Heneghan, a four-time Wash100 awardee.
Key ECS Contributions to NGA Maven Program
“From delivering the first production-ready AI models to creating the Maven Data Center — which, at one point, surpassed AWS GovCloud in GPU capacity — we’ve consistently driven innovation that meets operational needs,” said Heneghan.
In addition to the Maven Data Center and AI models, the company has contributed the Joint Warfighter Toolbox, or JWT, to the program.
JWT is a lightweight, web-based platform built from multiple validation tools. It can provide export options, ingest data and invoke AI and machine learning models to generate detections.
ECS said it has delivered 1,500 government-off-the-shelf and commercial-off-the-shelf models and validated 2,000 models in support of the program.
Transforming Defense Operations With Maven
Heneghan noted that the surge in data from satellites, drones and other sources calls for scalable AI tools. Although Maven is built to meet this challenge, he warned that vigilance is important to avoid short-term solutions that could compromise the program’s long-term flexibility.
“This program is not just a success story. It’s a model for how AI can transform defense operations,” the ECS president said. “Together with our partners, academia, and other key contributors to the program, we can help ensure Maven continues leading the way in defense AI innovation for years to come.”
