- The Army has declared NGC2 ready to scale after Project Convergence Capstone 6
- I Corps headquarters will be the next unit to receive NGC2 capabilities this year
- More than 60 companies are contributing to the growing NGC2 ecosystem
The U.S. Army said Saturday that it is preparing to expand its Next Generation Command and Control capability across the force. This is after completing a 10-month prototyping effort that concluded during Project Convergence-Capstone 6, held in July at Fort Irwin, California.
What Prompted the Army to Scale NGC2?
The Army has conducted operational training events, including Ivy Sting, Ivy Mass and Lightning Surge. These were performed in partnership with the 4th and 25th Infantry Divisions to expand and refine NGC2 capabilities across multiple echelons and warfighting functions. These exercises enabled soldiers and commanders to evaluate the hardware and software in realistic and contested operational environments while providing industry partners with feedback for iterative improvements.
At PC-C6, the Army validated NGC2 at the division level under harsh desert conditions and against a dedicated opposing force. Officials said the exercise marked the completion of the prototype phase and the beginning of rapid, continuous delivery of the capability to Army formations, with I Corps headquarters scheduled to receive NGC2 later this year.
“The speed of the fight has changed. The fundamentals have not,” said Gen. Christopher C. LaNeve, vice chief of staff of the Army. “Command and control is still about a commander understanding the fight and acting on it — NGC2 is helping us close the gap between the two. That is what we are testing here: decision speed at the operational level, at scale.”
How Will NGC2 Support Future Operations?
Army officials said NGC2 has already demonstrated the ability to improve lethality. This was by reducing the digital kill chain and providing integrated battlefield data while supporting communications through private 5G, satellite and terrestrial networks.
Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll, a Wash100 Award winner, said rapid decision-making will be critical in future conflicts. “The side that can sense a target, process the data, and deliver a kinetic effect the fastest wins. That is the decisive advantage this capability provides,” he said.
More than 60 companies are part of the NGC2 ecosystem, and the Army said it will continue to adjust vendor participation while expanding industry opportunities as the capability reaches additional formations. The service also plans to continue refining NGC2 through continuous capability delivery supported by a common data layer baseline.
