"This is a major step forward as NGC2 evolves into a phase of continuous delivery and we provide this capability at the speed of relevance," Brig. Gen. Shane Taylor, the capability program executive for Command and Control Information Network, said.
Anduril, Palantir and Raft to build the NGC2 common data layer
The Army announced that Anduril will lead the common data layer baseline for the Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) effort, marking the service's first major contract award as it moves beyond the prototype phase. Anduril, teamed with Palantir, will provide an edge-to-cloud data mesh using Anduril’s Lattice and Palantir’s Foundry, together with associated software deployment tools. Anduril will also partner with Raft to supply NGC2 data and services registries, data transformation tools, and data federation via the Raft Data Platform.
How the enterprise licensing agreement frames the award
The Army did not disclose a standalone dollar value for the contract; instead, the award was made under an enterprise licensing agreement the Army entered into with Anduril that carries a 10-year, $20 billion ceiling. Officials described that agreement as a consolidation tool: it lets the Army fold other agreements under a single vehicle and pick and choose which Anduril software and hardware to procure beneath the umbrella.
Where the data layer fits inside the NGC2 full stack
NGC2 is one of the Army’s top modernization priorities and the data layer is one of four layers in the so‑called NGC2 “full stack,” alongside the transport layer, integration layer and application layer. Over the last year Anduril, as team lead, has been prototyping that full stack with the 4th Infantry Division. That division concluded the culmination of its incremental sprint series in May and will take the work to Project Convergence in July as the final test of the series.
Parallel prototyping with Lockheed Martin and the 25th Infantry Division
Alongside the Anduril-led effort, Lockheed Martin and a team of vendors have been prototyping a different data layer design with the 25th Infantry Division. Unlike the 4th Infantry Division’s layer, which the Army describes as built from scratch, the 25th’s was a modernized network baseline called C2 Fix. Despite Anduril’s selection to lead the common data layer baseline, the Army said Lockheed will remain the lead for the 25th Infantry Division’s full stack operational implementation. In a written statement, the company said, “Lockheed Martin continues to support the US Army’s 25th Infantry Division and the development of the Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) ecosystem through the six‑series Lightning Surge exercises.” Lockheed added, “The development of an integrated command and control (C2) ecosystem in close collaboration with industry partners – which has been proven to connect soldiers across the battlefield in contested and denied zones – remains our top focus. We look forward to continuing to showcase that with the remaining three Lightning Surge exercises this year.”
How technologists, procurement leaders, and the 25th Infantry Division will respond
- Technologists and platform teams will be focused on integrating an edge-to-cloud data mesh and federated registries — the explicit capabilities assigned to Lattice, Foundry and the Raft Data Platform — while ensuring those pieces interoperate with transport, integration and application layers.
- Procurement leaders gain flexibility from the enterprise licensing vehicle: a 10‑year, $20 billion ceiling that lets the service consolidate agreements and select Anduril software and hardware under a single contracting umbrella as acquisition decisions are phased in.
- The 25th Infantry Division will continue to work under Lockheed Martin’s lead for its full stack operational implementation and will carry on with the remaining Lightning Surge exercises this year as part of its modernization path.
The Army has signaled that the dual architectures — the 4th Infantry Division’s ground-up design and the 25th Infantry Division’s C2 Fix modernization — are deliberate. Officials said these parallel efforts will help determine the right mix of capabilities for a force that combines legacy and modernized kits. Following the recent sprints and events, the Army plans to begin making a series of acquisition decisions to start fielding the full NGC2 stack across the force, and the announcement makes clear those architectures will now converge under the new agreement.
The broader timeline the Army is using remains assertive: officials have said I Corps is a target formation next year as the service pivots to the Pacific, and the service plans to field all 11 divisions within five years. But the secretary has urged a faster cadence. “The biggest risk [to the Army Transformation Initiative] is not going fast enough. Next Gen C2, we think we will be in all the divisions, or we’re modeling it to be in all the divisions within five years. I don’t think that’s sufficient,” Dan Driscoll told the Senate Armed Services Committee in May. “I think we need to do it two or three. It is just simply a spending pacing item at this point, because we know what we need to do.”
Project Convergence in July and the forthcoming acquisition decisions will be the immediate tests of whether the Army’s licensing approach and the Anduril-led data baseline accelerate fielding at the speed the service has described. The new agreement consolidates options under a large contract ceiling; the practical question now is whether that consolidation will speed delivery to the divisions the Army has targeted and at the pace the service and its senior leaders say they want.
Source: Breaking Defense — Army picks Anduril to lead Next Gen C2 common data layer baseline
