IN Brief:
- US Army Contracting Command has awarded Raft a five-year, $99 million firm-fixed-price IDIQ.
- The vehicle covers software platforms, data integrations, secure compute infrastructure, AI capability, and support services.
- Raft's existing Army work includes its Data Platform, AI Mission System, and contributions to the NGC2 common data-layer baseline.
Raft has secured a five-year, $99 million firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract from US Army Contracting Command, establishing an enterprise vehicle for Army organisations to procure the company’s software platforms, data integrations, secure compute infrastructure, and associated services.
The IDIQ is an acquisition framework rather than a $99 million guaranteed order. Individual organisations can place requirements through the vehicle during its five-year term, avoiding the need to establish a separate contracting mechanism each time an Army customer wants to deploy or expand an eligible Raft capability.
That structure is intended to reduce one of the practical delays surrounding military software. Applications and data services can change more quickly than conventional procurement cycles, leaving technically mature software waiting for a contract while user requirements and the wider technology stack continue to evolve.
Raft’s Army work is centred on data architecture and artificial intelligence rather than a single application. The company identifies its Raft Data Platform and Raft AI Mission System as already operating across Army formations from the tactical edge to enterprise environments, while its engineers have contributed to the common data-layer baseline for Next Generation Command and Control.
NGC2 is intended to connect information and command functions across a more distributed Army architecture. That creates a substantial integration problem because sensors, headquarters, applications, networks, and databases may have been developed independently and can use different interfaces, data structures, identity controls, and security models.
A common data layer is intended to reduce the number of bespoke connections needed between those systems. Information can be discovered, transformed, federated, and presented through an architecture that allows authorised applications and users to access it without rebuilding the complete integration chain for every new mission tool.
The technical difficulty lies in making that model work under military conditions. Data may have different classifications, owners, formats, update rates, and confidence levels, while tactical formations can operate with limited bandwidth or intermittent connectivity. A data platform designed solely for a well-connected enterprise environment would be of limited value when deployed at the edge.
Raft therefore positions its software across both tactical and enterprise use. Local processing, synchronisation, secure compute, disconnected operation, and controlled replication become part of the architecture when data has to remain useful after a formation loses access to central infrastructure.
Artificial intelligence increases the dependence on that foundation. AI applications can process large quantities of information quickly, but the quality of their output remains tied to the timeliness, provenance, structure, and relevance of the data supplied to them. A sophisticated model fed stale or poorly governed information can produce a convincing answer that is operationally wrong.
The Army’s enterprise contract gives organisations a route to procure those underlying services alongside the applications built on top of them. It does not remove requirements around cyber approval, integration testing, data ownership, user training, or programme governance, all of which still have to be addressed at task level.
The $99 million ceiling should therefore be read as the maximum available under the IDIQ rather than committed expenditure. The volume of actual work will depend on the orders Army and other eligible organisations place over the contract period.
Raft enters that period while a separate corporate transaction is pending. Leonardo DRS has agreed to acquire the company, with completion expected in the fourth quarter of 2026. If completed, the acquisition would combine Raft’s software-defined data and AI capabilities with Leonardo DRS businesses covering sensing, network computing, force protection, and mission systems.
That combination could create closer links between the data layer and the physical hardware generating and consuming operational information. It also places Raft inside a larger defence supplier with established programme relationships, although the acquisition remains subject to closing and should not be treated as completed.
For the Army, the immediate issue is whether the new contracting route can make proven software easier to scale without creating another fragmented set of deployments. Enterprise acquisition only delivers an enterprise effect if technical standards, data governance, and architecture remain sufficiently consistent across the organisations using the vehicle.
Raft has secured a mechanism for expanding work already demonstrated within Army formations and NGC2 development. The value of the IDIQ will be determined by the orders placed through it and by whether the resulting deployments make data easier to use across the force rather than adding another layer of software to an already crowded command environment.
