Code Metal 125M Bet AI Is Coming for Defense Code
Code Metal 125M Bet: AI Is Coming for Defense Code
The defense industry runs on ancient code. This startup just got paid to rewrite it.
The US military runs on code older than many of its soldiers. Some systems still use COBOL—a programming language invented in 1959.
Code Metal just raised 125 million to fix this problem. Their solution? Use AI to translate and verify legacy software for defense contractors.
The Legacy Code Crisis
Here is the problem: the US Department of Defense maintains millions of lines of code written in languages that almost no one knows anymore.
- 70% of government IT systems use legacy languages
- COBOL programmers average 55+ years old
- 100 billion spent annually on federal IT maintenance
The Code Metal Approach
The Boston startup uses AI to translate legacy code into modern languages, verify that the new code behaves identically, automate security auditing, and generate documentation for ancient systems.
Why Defense Matters
The defense industry is the ultimate proving ground. If AI can handle military-grade code, it can handle anything.
The Risks
Security: Letting AI rewrite defense code raises obvious questions.
Accuracy: AI code translation is not perfect.
Accountability: Who takes the blame when AI-written code fails?
The Bottom Line
Code Metal 125 million funding is a bet that AI can handle the most critical code in the world.
Either way, AI is coming for defense code. Code Metal just accelerated the timeline.