Leidos has secured a five-year, $160 million contract to support US Cyber Command in planning, coordinating and executing offensive and defensive military cyber operations.
The contract includes support for the operation and protection of the Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN), which provides essential communications and digital infrastructure across the US military.
Under the agreement, Leidos will deliver cyber defence services, operational planning and emerging threat analysis. The company will also support the development of tactics, techniques and procedures designed to strengthen military cyber capabilities and improve coordination between US Cyber Command and its partner organisations.
Leidos confirmed that its delivery team will include Kudu Dynamics, a recently acquired business, bringing additional specialist expertise to its cyber operations portfolio.
Responding to AI-driven cyber threats
The contract comes as the US military faces increasingly sophisticated cyber threats, including the growing use of artificial intelligence to automate vulnerability discovery and exploitation.
The US Air Force has highlighted concerns that advanced AI models could identify security weaknesses and develop exploits considerably faster than traditional methods.
Lieutenant General Thomas Hensley, Commander of the 16th Air Force, warned that activities previously requiring months or years of specialist expertise could potentially be completed in minutes or seconds.
AI-enabled systems can also combine multiple vulnerabilities into coordinated attacks, potentially increasing the capabilities available to less sophisticated threat actors.
In response, military organisations are strengthening continuous network monitoring, multifactor authentication and network segmentation to improve threat detection and restrict the spread of intrusions.
Modernising military cyber infrastructure
Investment in cyber resilience is also extending across other branches of the US armed forces.
The US Marine Corps has awarded contracts worth a combined $93.3 million to Agile Defense to modernise its digital infrastructure and strengthen operational IT capabilities.
An $88 million contract, delivered in partnership with CommIT Enterprises, will support classified and unclassified networks used for military command and deployment operations.
A separate $5.3 million agreement covers IT services for Marine Corps Installations West, including geospatial information systems and operational planning tools.
Together, these investments reflect growing US military efforts to strengthen network resilience, modernise cyber infrastructure and maintain operational capabilities against evolving digital threats
