The US Army has awarded Anduril a $99.6-million contract to lead a team of companies and deliver a next-generation command and control (NGC2) prototype.
“Team Anduril” comprises Palantir, Striveworks, Govini, Instant Connect Enterprise, Research Innovations, Inc., and Microsoft. Under an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement spanning over 11 months, they are set to deliver an integrated and scalable C2 suite to the service’s 4th Infantry Division (ID) for experimentation.
After delivery, the consortium and the 4th ID will conduct a series of soldier exercises to test the capability’s performance and assess other ways for its improvement, including getting more vendors involved.
“NGC2 is not a one-and-done contract, but a long-term effort of continuous contracting and investment in the technologies that will deliver needed overmatch for our force,” Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications–Tactical Network Brigadier General Shane Taylor commented.
Apart from the 4th ID, the NGC2 is also scheduled to undergo prototyping under the 25th Infantry Division and III Corps Headquarters.
“NGC2 is not just a capability. It’s a blueprint for how we’ll deliver future Army systems,” said Army Futures Command General James Rainey.
The NGC2
The NGC2 was developed as a solution for army commanders to make decisions better and faster than the enemy.
With the OTA arrangement, the US Army moved from proof-of-concept to capability validation in just one year instead of the usual five-to-seven-year timeline, Anduril stated.
Instead of being a single device or program, the NGC2 is an ecosystem or technology stack with four layers: transport, infrastructure, data, and applications.
It deviates from the previous practice where different units had their own separate data or silos.
With the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning to quickly process large amounts of data, the ecosystem combines all the information so warfighters get the same information in real time.
Anduril’s Lattice Mesh, already supporting the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office Edge Data Mesh, is included in the NGC2 solution to “deliver effects in a fraction of the time compared to legacy systems and networks.”
