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So is there a list or statistic of how many DOD projects actually use Ada?

sharpy 1y ago
Worked in the defence industry for a few years in the 2000s. I worked on exactly one Ada project. The rest were C/C++. I presume the shift away from Ada has accelerated if anythinng.
- blutack 1y ago
  This might be a US/EU difference. It's pretty popular in the EU still, although some of the market has been taken by various Simulink to C tools. Every Rolls-Royce gas turbine FADEC runs ADA binaries on a custom processor [1]. It's also used extensively at Airbus. Lots of DO-178C (safety critical aerospace). 1: https://www.his-conference.co.uk/session/visiumcore-a-high-integrity-processor-for-safety-critical-applications https://www.his-conference.co.uk/session/visiumcore-a-high-i...
  - ajxs 1y ago
    Thank you for sharing this! I'd love to know more about what led them to develop their own CPU, and what the instruction set looks like. It looks like AdaCore actually merged their support for VISIUMCore into upstream GCC. The slides state it features SEU detection/correction, which is pretty interesting.
  - ummonk 1y ago
    Seems to be standard in India as well. E.g. the newly announced made in India space microprocessor is targeted by an in house Ada compiler: https://thestateindia.com/2025/09/02/vikram-3201-india-unveils-atmanirbhar-bharat-deep%E2%80%91space-microprocessor/ https://thestateindia.com/2025/09/02/vikram-3201-india-unvei...
  - p_l 1y ago
    One interesting project is Saab Gripen jet fighter, whose entire software stack (other than software that is treated as "black box" firmware of certain physical components) is written in Ada, and AFAIK every sale includes complete source code and SDK to make modifications.
    - zeroc8 1y ago
      Would love to get me some Gripen and Sdk to play around with it....
- giancarlostoro 1y ago
  I worked in that industry and never saw a single project using Ada, but I've always been fascinated by different programming languages.
- Jtsummers 1y ago
  The DOD mandate was very short-lived, and many projects sought and received exemptions to it. So it's not surprising that, at that time, you only saw one project.
- dragonwriter 1y ago
  > Worked in the defence industry for a few years in the 2000s. The Ada mandate for mission-critical software was only in place from 1991-1997.
- pjmlp 1y ago
  There are enough commercial projects to keep 7 vendors in business, in a day and age where many devs refuse to pay for their tools. https://www.adacore.com/ https://www.adacore.com/ https://www.ghs.com/products/ada_optimizing_compilers.html https://www.ghs.com/products/ada_optimizing_compilers.html https://www.ptc.com/en/products/developer-tools/apexada https://www.ptc.com/en/products/developer-tools/apexada https://www.ddci.com/products_score/ https://www.ddci.com/products_score/ http://www.irvine.com/tech.html http://www.irvine.com/tech.html http://www.ocsystems.com/w/index.php/OCS:PowerAda http://www.ocsystems.com/w/index.php/OCS:PowerAda http://www.rrsoftware.com/html/prodinf/janus95/j-ada95.htm http://www.rrsoftware.com/html/prodinf/janus95/j-ada95.htm
gte525u 1y ago
There were a lot of waivers back in the day. A couple big companies (Boeing) still use it.
inamberclad 1y ago
Nvidia is notably using Ada for serval modern projects.
- tos1 1y ago
  I’m interested. Do you have a link or can you elaborate?
  - sillywalk 1y ago
    Looks like they're using the SPARK subset of Ada: "NVIDIA began implementing SPARK in its security strategy in 2019 on select pieces of firmware. They began training additional personnel in SPARK and eventually developed an in-house training program. Several NVIDIA teams are now using SPARK for a wide range of applications that include image authentication and integrity checks for the overall GPU firmware image, BootROM and secure monitor firmware, and formally verified components of an isolation kernel for an embedded operating system, to name just a few."[0] https://www.adacore.com/nvidia https://www.adacore.com/nvidia [0] https://www.wevolver.com/article/nvidia-adoption-of-spark-ushers-in-a-new-era-in-security-critical-software-development https://www.wevolver.com/article/nvidia-adoption-of-spark-us...
    - cpeterso 1y ago
      Here’s a related talk: “NVIDIA - Securing the Future of Safety and Security of Embedded Software” https://youtu.be/2YoPoNx3L5E https://youtu.be/2YoPoNx3L5E > NVIDIA is working with AdaCore to implement Ada and SPARK programming languages into certain firmware elements to reduce this potential error. In this webinar you will learn how the combination of NVIDIA hardware with Ada and SPARK delivers robustness and security, improving efficiency and safety in the development pipeline.
jmward01 1y ago
The Marines had an entire MOS dedicated to it, 4067 Ada programmer. That was when LCPL (E-3) could own the software for a chuck of the supply system and make changes with almost no oversight... Man those were the days!

Worked in the defence industry for a few years in the 2000s. I worked on exactly one Ada project. The rest were C/C++. I presume the shift away from Ada has accelerated if anythinng.

blutack 1y ago
This might be a US/EU difference. It's pretty popular in the EU still, although some of the market has been taken by various Simulink to C tools. Every Rolls-Royce gas turbine FADEC runs ADA binaries on a custom processor [1]. It's also used extensively at Airbus. Lots of DO-178C (safety critical aerospace). 1: https://www.his-conference.co.uk/session/visiumcore-a-high-integrity-processor-for-safety-critical-applications https://www.his-conference.co.uk/session/visiumcore-a-high-i...
- ajxs 1y ago
  Thank you for sharing this! I'd love to know more about what led them to develop their own CPU, and what the instruction set looks like. It looks like AdaCore actually merged their support for VISIUMCore into upstream GCC. The slides state it features SEU detection/correction, which is pretty interesting.
- ummonk 1y ago
  Seems to be standard in India as well. E.g. the newly announced made in India space microprocessor is targeted by an in house Ada compiler: https://thestateindia.com/2025/09/02/vikram-3201-india-unveils-atmanirbhar-bharat-deep%E2%80%91space-microprocessor/ https://thestateindia.com/2025/09/02/vikram-3201-india-unvei...
- p_l 1y ago
  One interesting project is Saab Gripen jet fighter, whose entire software stack (other than software that is treated as "black box" firmware of certain physical components) is written in Ada, and AFAIK every sale includes complete source code and SDK to make modifications.
  - zeroc8 1y ago
    Would love to get me some Gripen and Sdk to play around with it....
giancarlostoro 1y ago
I worked in that industry and never saw a single project using Ada, but I've always been fascinated by different programming languages.
Jtsummers 1y ago
The DOD mandate was very short-lived, and many projects sought and received exemptions to it. So it's not surprising that, at that time, you only saw one project.
dragonwriter 1y ago
> Worked in the defence industry for a few years in the 2000s. The Ada mandate for mission-critical software was only in place from 1991-1997.
pjmlp 1y ago
There are enough commercial projects to keep 7 vendors in business, in a day and age where many devs refuse to pay for their tools. https://www.adacore.com/ https://www.adacore.com/ https://www.ghs.com/products/ada_optimizing_compilers.html https://www.ghs.com/products/ada_optimizing_compilers.html https://www.ptc.com/en/products/developer-tools/apexada https://www.ptc.com/en/products/developer-tools/apexada https://www.ddci.com/products_score/ https://www.ddci.com/products_score/ http://www.irvine.com/tech.html http://www.irvine.com/tech.html http://www.ocsystems.com/w/index.php/OCS:PowerAda http://www.ocsystems.com/w/index.php/OCS:PowerAda http://www.rrsoftware.com/html/prodinf/janus95/j-ada95.htm http://www.rrsoftware.com/html/prodinf/janus95/j-ada95.htm

gte525u 1y ago

There were a lot of waivers back in the day. A couple big companies (Boeing) still use it.

inamberclad 1y ago

Nvidia is notably using Ada for serval modern projects.

tos1 1y ago
I’m interested. Do you have a link or can you elaborate?
- sillywalk 1y ago
  Looks like they're using the SPARK subset of Ada: "NVIDIA began implementing SPARK in its security strategy in 2019 on select pieces of firmware. They began training additional personnel in SPARK and eventually developed an in-house training program. Several NVIDIA teams are now using SPARK for a wide range of applications that include image authentication and integrity checks for the overall GPU firmware image, BootROM and secure monitor firmware, and formally verified components of an isolation kernel for an embedded operating system, to name just a few."[0] https://www.adacore.com/nvidia https://www.adacore.com/nvidia [0] https://www.wevolver.com/article/nvidia-adoption-of-spark-ushers-in-a-new-era-in-security-critical-software-development https://www.wevolver.com/article/nvidia-adoption-of-spark-us...
  - cpeterso 1y ago
    Here’s a related talk: “NVIDIA - Securing the Future of Safety and Security of Embedded Software” https://youtu.be/2YoPoNx3L5E https://youtu.be/2YoPoNx3L5E > NVIDIA is working with AdaCore to implement Ada and SPARK programming languages into certain firmware elements to reduce this potential error. In this webinar you will learn how the combination of NVIDIA hardware with Ada and SPARK delivers robustness and security, improving efficiency and safety in the development pipeline.

jmward01 1y ago

The Marines had an entire MOS dedicated to it, 4067 Ada programmer. That was when LCPL (E-3) could own the software for a chuck of the supply system and make changes with almost no oversight... Man those were the days!