Former Ukraine defense chief partners with Palantir CEO on new defense firm

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s former defense minister, is launching a new defense technology company alongside Palantir chief executive Alex Karp. The duo announced the venture on Tuesday, aiming to develop systems that will strengthen Ukraine and its allies.

Fedorov left his government post in July after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed him, a move that triggered weeks of nationwide protests. He recently confirmed he will not return to public office, choosing instead to advise the Italian Ministry of Defense and build a major defense investment fund.

The partnership carries significant weight for European defense markets and investors. Palantir recently reported 93 percent year-over-year revenue growth, pushing its valuation past $440 billion, which is nearly 28 times its 2020 stock market debut. Currently, approximately half of the American software company's total income stems from United States government contracts.

Fedorov built his reputation by championing tech-first military strategies, most notably the Delta battlefield management system. This platform fuses drone feeds, radar and field data into a single dashboard for real-time front-line oversight.

Outgoing U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll praised the Ukrainian system in May, calling it absolutely incredible. He contrasted this with American military infrastructure, which he described as compartmentalized, isolated and ineffective against modern threats.

The United States military relies on the Maven Smart System as its equivalent, utilizing an Anthropic artificial intelligence model for battle planning. Karp was among the first Western tech executives to visit Kyiv following the 2022 invasion, and his company's technology is now deployed across more than half a dozen Ukrainian government agencies.

The two leaders have already collaborated on the Brave1 Dataroom, a joint project launched earlier this year that allows Ukrainian companies to train artificial intelligence models on real combat data. In a joint video announcing their new partnership, Karp noted they have worked together for a half decade and he was inspired by Ukrainian achievements.

Fedorov stated his team gained unique experience working with defense technologies during the full-scale war. Despite his new international ventures and a reported early outreach from Karp following his dismissal, Fedorov emphasized that Ukraine will remain his priority.