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Advanced / Transformational Technology

Vast Majority Of Luno Contracts Use Artificial Intelligence, NGA’s Commercial Chief Says

By Cal Biesecker

Tuesday, May 5th, 2026

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Vast Majority Of Luno Contracts Use Artificial Intelligence, NGA’s Commercial Chief Says

Pictured is a Gen-3 satellite image with AI-enabled analytics of Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa (BlackSky Photo)

AURORA, Colo.—Most of the contracts the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is awarding for unclassified commercial analytics around economic monitoring and domain awareness are using artificial intelligence tools, and that will only grow, the chief of the agency’s commercial operations said on Monday. The Luno contracts awarded so far are leveraging computer vision, machine learning or some form of AI “85 to 90 percent,” Sandra Auchter said during a fireside chat at the GEOINT Symposium here. “I was shocked by that,…

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