New contract awards support Army Next Generation Command and Control software delivery to I Corps

WASHINGTON -- The Army has issued several initial contract awards for Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) warfighting applications, enabling foundational software capabilities to be delivered to I Corps as the Army moves from its division-level prototyping to product delivery and scaling across the force.

The NGC2 application ecosystem - which consists of commercially developed, government-developed, and Soldier-developed applications - will provide a structured software foundation that can be employed for operations and training today.

Over the last year, as part of the NGC2 prototyping effort with the I Corps' 4th Infantry Division and 25th Infantry Division, the Army's access to emerging applications through Soldier input and industry teaming ultimately informed software capabilities and requirements to scale.

Commercial applications were evaluated and awarded to vendors including General Dynamics Mission Systems, Air Space Intelligence Federal, Immersive Wisdom, LMI, Mente Systems, Stilman Advanced Strategies, Onebrief, Rune Technologies, and AIR, for an initial collective one-year value of approximately $93.6 million. The awards add to the software capabilities provided by Anduril, Palantir, Raft and Striveworks for the NGC2 data layer and core artificial intelligence capabilities. Together, the ecosystem will provide integrated information and mission execution tools across the six warfighting functions of C2, Fires, Intelligence, Movement/Maneuver, Sustainment, and Protection.

The modular, open architecture NGC2 ecosystem remains ready to incorporate new technologies that maximize capability and provide advantage to Soldiers. The Army will continue to evaluate and award commercial technologies via the NGC2 Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO), aligned with NGC2's approach to deliver affordable capability at the pace of relevance.

Delivering warfighting applications is part of the Army's greater effort to deliver validated capabilities to I Corps and future formations across each layer of the full NGC2 ecosystem - including a robust, common data layer, core software applications, and key transport and infrastructure nodes for resilient communications.

"Providing core software applications is a critical next step," said Joseph Welch, portfolio acquisition executive Command and Control (C2)/Counter C2. "It provides a foundation that can be rapidly scaled and trained with continuity across the force."

During the Army's Project Convergence Capstone 6 (PC-C6) in July, Soldiers successfully used applications to enable decision-making under tough, realistic conditions, deployed across an entire Division formation.

As the Army moves to scale NGC2 across the force, I Corps will be the next unit to receive the software capability, enabling Soldiers to train and gain familiarity with the applications and prepare for upcoming exercises.

"While the Army is providing capability we can deploy today, we're also providing a blueprint and reference point for how industry can integrate in the future with interoperability and speed," said Brig. Gen. Shane Taylor, portfolio management executive Command and Control Information Network.