# Army to Award Project Griffin Contracts

The U.S. Army expects to announce two Project Griffin awards on October 16, 2026, for development of AI agents that can detect and respond to cyber threats on Army networks. The Army says the agents will operate within human-defined parameters and undergo deliberate evaluation before any use on government networks. More than 100 industry submissions were narrowed to 10 companies, with two selected; awardees and contract values have not been disclosed.

- The planned awards create opportunities in cyber automation, AI-agent development, testing, and human-oversight capabilities. The Army’s staged evaluation approach indicates that validation and controlled autonomy are central to the effort.
- Contractors should note that the initial awards are a development step, not an immediate deployment across government networks; the Army describes a potential path to follow-on work as the agents are evaluated.
- The announcement is expected in two days, on October 16. The selected companies and award values remain undisclosed.

**Jurisdictions:** federal
**Industries:** Defense & Military, Information Technology
**Topics:** Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity
**Published:** October 13, 2026

### Government Entities
- U.S. Army (Army)
- Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER)

### Key Quotes
> The one that we plan to award on Friday is our take action element. So essentially, how are we not only autonomously detecting a potential adversary? How are we now doing something – having an autonomous response within prescribed parameters of a human operator, or even in conjunction with that?
> — Brandon Pugh, U.S. Army Principal Cyber Advisor

### Sources
- [Army to take a (cautious) step toward employing AI agents to defend networks: Official - Breaking Defense](https://breakingdefense.com/2026/10/army-to-take-a-cautious-step-toward-employing-ai-agents-to-defend-networks-official) - Breaking Defense
- [Army Cyber Command Expands Use of AI Agents on Its Networks – MeriTalk](https://www.meritalk.com/articles/army-cyber-command-expands-use-of-ai-agents-on-its-networks) - MeriTalk
- [ARCYBER expanding use of AI agents for network operations | DefenseScoop](https://defensescoop.com/2026/10/12/arcyber-expanding-use-of-ai-agents-for-network-operations) - DefenseScoop