The U.S. Army is fundamentally changing its approach to building a connected battlefield, moving away from decades of costly, slow-moving projects. The new initiative, called Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2), adopts a model inspired by the commercial tech industry to create a more flexible and rapidly evolving communications network for its soldiers.
Key Takeaways
- The Army's new NGC2 program aims to succeed where past multi-billion dollar projects like WIN-T and Future Combat Systems failed.
- Instead of a single, rigid system, NGC2 uses an open, modular architecture that allows for continuous upgrades and competition.
- Tech companies like Anduril, Palantir, and Microsoft are leading the initial prototyping efforts, bringing a Silicon Valley approach to defense contracting.
- Commercial space technology, particularly satellite communications, is a central component for ensuring a resilient and ubiquitous network.
A History of Failed Attempts
For years, the U.S. Army has pursued the goal of a fully networked force, where every soldier, vehicle, and sensor shares data in real time. However, this vision has been marked by a series of high-profile and expensive failures.
Programs like the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) and the Warfighter Information Network–Tactical (WIN-T) struggled to deliver on their promises. JTRS became overly complex and unreliable, while WIN-T produced a network that was often slow and fragile in battlefield conditions.
The Cost of Past Failures
The most notable example was the Future Combat Systems program, which was envisioned as a revolutionary, fully networked ground force. After years of development and billions of dollars in investment, it was canceled for being one of the most expensive failures in Pentagon history, leaving the Army with outdated technology.
These past efforts were characterized by closed, proprietary systems developed by a single contractor. The requirements were often set years in advance, meaning the technology was obsolete by the time it reached the field.
Adopting a Silicon Valley Model
With NGC2, the Army is deliberately breaking from this tradition. The new strategy is built on the principles of open architecture and continuous development, concepts common in the commercial software world but rare in military procurement.
Instead of a single, monolithic program, NGC2 is designed as a modular tech stack. This allows different components—from software and data infrastructure to communication links—to be developed, tested, and upgraded independently. This approach is intended to foster competition and allow the Army to integrate the latest commercial innovations like cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
New Players in Defense
Anduril Industries, a company with roots in the tech startup world rather than the traditional defense industry, is leading a major prototyping effort with a contract worth nearly $100 million. Its team includes software giants Palantir and Microsoft.
Legacy defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and L3Harris are also involved with smaller prototyping contracts. This parallel development strategy allows the Army to test multiple solutions simultaneously and avoid being locked into a single vendor.
The Critical Role of Space
A resilient and ubiquitous network is the backbone of modern military operations, and commercial space technology is central to the NGC2 vision. The goal is to create a single, unified operational picture by fusing data streams from land, air, sea, and space.
According to Craig Miller, head of Viasat’s government business, the Army's vision requires resilient satellite communications and persistent imagery to give commanders a complete view of the battlefield.
This integration of space-based assets represents a significant shift. While the military has long used commercial satellite communications, NGC2 aims to redesign the Army's entire enterprise communications backbone with space as a core component.
Accelerated Timelines and New Hardware
The urgency of this modernization is driving an accelerated schedule. Tom Jackson, an executive vice president at Kymeta, noted that the Army “wants to compress a program that could go out five to seven years into two and a half years.”
Kymeta recently won a contract to supply its Osprey u8 flat-panel satellite terminals for the NGC2 program. These terminals are designed for connectivity on the move and can communicate with satellites in both low Earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary orbits, giving commanders the flexibility to choose the best network based on bandwidth, latency, and security needs at any given moment.
Keeping Pace with Global Competitors
The push for NGC2 is driven by a changing global landscape. Modern warfare is increasingly a contest of networks, where the side that can connect sensors to shooters the fastest holds a decisive advantage. Precision weapons, autonomous systems, and AI-driven analysis all depend on rapid and secure data exchange.
The U.S. military is focused on maintaining its technological edge, particularly as potential adversaries advance their own capabilities. China's military, for example, has moved toward a doctrine of “intelligentized warfare,” which emphasizes AI-driven command systems and autonomous platforms.
For the Army, the measure of success for NGC2 will not be the delivery of a perfect, finished system. Instead, the goal is to build a system that can constantly evolve. This new approach is designed to create a network that is adaptable enough to meet the challenges of the next conflict, not just the last one.