US Army Eyeing Industry Support on Next Generation C2

U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George disclosed that the service branch is looking at how industry can contribute to the consolidated architecture of the service’s planned Next Generation Command and Control. One of the key results that George wants from the NGC2 program is for service members to collaborate easily on the field using Army-provided commercial devices. 

The Army envisions NGC2 as a data-centric system that will revamp the service’s enterprise data architecture and operational software framework to establish a common data access layer. According to the Army chief of staff, the NGC2’s unified, open architecture will enable easy communication among Army elements through such gadgets as tablets, mobile phones and computers, using just one application, Breaking Defense reported.

Col. Mike Kaloostian, the Army’s director for transport and security, said the NGC2 project parallels C2 Fix, an effort focused on revitalizing and simplifying the service’s current network infrastructure. 

The Army awarded CACI International in March a potential five-year, $239 million task order for the company to deploy its Archon solution to the service’s Global Secret Internet Protocol Router network to enable secure and mobile network access to warfighters.