Gabe Camarillo on the Most Important Army-GovCon Tech Partnership Opportunity

The U.S. Army’s broader effort to modernize its tactical communications network will leverage novel commercial technologies and provide lots of partnership chances for GovCons, according to a former high-ranking service official.

Gabe Camarillo, former under secretary of the Army and a speaker at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Army Summit, told Potomac Officers Club in an exclusive interview that the most important business opportunity in Army tactical network modernization is Next Generation Command and Control, or NGC2. The service in February requested industry feedback on a draft solicitation for the effort, which the Army bills as a clean-sheet, fundamentally different approach for a service-wide, data-centric transformation that should enable its commanders to make more, faster and better decisions than the enemy.

Camarillo described NGC2 as the Army’s ability to configure, utilize and move many different sources of data across the battlefield. It is also the ability, he said, to synthesize and analyze that data at a relevant pace and at an appropriate location for soldiers.

“It creates the ability to have better security to see where data is and move data around from enterprise locations … then the ability to bring in obviously novel commercial technologies,” Camarillo said.

Learn more about big-budget Army modernization efforts such as NGC2 at the 2025 Army Summit on June 18. Hear Camarillo and leading Army officials and IT experts discuss hybrid cloud at the tactical edge. Dive into a panel on driving efficiency with modernized digital engineering ecosystems. Sign up today!

What Is NGC2?

Camarillo said NGC2 is part of a broader Army effort to streamline its unified network. The Army’s tactical communications network over the past 10-20 years evolved as a bunch of organizational networks put together. The service has taken a significant comprehensive effort in the last couple of years to streamline, simplify and unify all those networks.

What’s exciting about the Army modernizing its tactical network, Camarillo said, is that it could leverage paradigm-shifting commercial technologies such as low Earth orbit satellite constellations for communications. He said it could also leverage new software applications that would streamline the Army’s ability to share and act on battlefield data. Camarillo expects better use of commercial cloud computing providers in the Army’s broader effort to modernize its tactical network.

Zero Trust and Army Network Modernization

Zero trust implementation is also a big part of the Army’s tactical network modernization. Camarillo said while some of that is using common tools such as Microsoft 365 daily work enterprise software, it is also making sure the service has the right architecture and processes in place in order to ensure it meets zero trust requirements in the near term. (Zero trust is a security framework where continuous authentication, authorization and validation of security configurations are required before access is granted to applications and data.)

The electromagnetic spectrum is becoming more congested and contested as sensors proliferate Army formations and adversaries develop better capabilities. NGC2 must overcome these challenges and ensure commanders have access to the mission-critical data required to make better, faster and more decisions than the enemy, according to presolicitation.

NGC2 envisions accomplishing this by providing a mult-layer technology stack that is highly adaptable, intelligent and enabled by an integrated data layer, which is responsible for the synthesis of information across warfighting functions. It also leverages a high-capacity, low-latency network as the backbone to enable its modular software solutions.

Vendor Competition in NGC2

The Army envisions NGC2 being driven by continuous iteration of flexible requirements, vendor teaming and competition throughout the lifecycle. It also sees governance by an Army Futures Command product owner and an assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology program manager working together to plan and rapidly execute capability drops.

The deadline for industry responses to the NGC2 solicitation has been extended to June 30.

Dig into new GovCon business opportunities at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Army Summit on June 18. Learn about transforming supply chains via an agentic AI workforce. Network with leading contractors such as LMI. Create new partnerships and rekindle established relationships. Buy your ticket now!