U.S. and Allies Expand Missile and Drone Production in Asia

The U.S.-led Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience (PIPIR) is ramping up defense manufacturing in the Asia-Pacific region. The initiative includes a new missile motor production program with Japan, expanded drone cooperation across Asia, and exploration of an ammunition production line in the Philippines. Launched in May 2024, PIPIR aims to reduce supply chain risks and enable allies to produce and maintain military equipment closer to potential conflict zones. Palantir’s AI system, used in the Pentagon’s Project Maven, supports these efforts by analyzing battlefield data, though humans remain responsible for targeting decisions. Maven, which began as a drone-imagery labeling program in 2017, had tens of thousands of users by 2024, when the Pentagon awarded Palantir a contract worth up to $480 million, later increased to $1.3 billion in 2025. One challenge for further adoption is Maven’s reliance on Anthropic’s Claude AI tool, recently flagged as a Pentagon supply chain risk due to safety concerns.