Turns out teamwork really does make the dream work.
Last week, Lockheed Martin and its teammates showed off the first version of their Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) prototype to the Army’s 25th Infantry Division during the Lightning Surge 1 exercises in Hawaii.
Reboot: As a refresher, Lockheed was awarded a $26M OTA in September to deliver a prototype of the data layer portion of the broader NGC2 program, one of the Army’s top modernization priorities.
- NGC2 aims to replace the Army’s siloed C2 stack with a data-centric system that integrates warfighting functions like transport, intel, fires, and comms onto a single, agile software backbone. The idea is to speed up how the Army communicates on the battlefield, makes decisions, and processes data for operations.
- Last July, Anduril was awarded a $99M, 11-month OTA contract and teamed up with Palantir, Govini, Microsoft, and others to prototype a full-stack NGC2 for the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, the other Division tapped to experiment with NGC2 capabilities.
- Lockheed’s team—which includes Raft, Accelint, and, most recently, Rune—is focused on the data layer for NGC2.
- The Army views the two prototyping efforts as complementary, betting that a little competition and cooperation will get them the best system.
Lightning strikes: Lightning Surge 1, held last week at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii, was the first in a series of exercises putting the Lockheed-led team’s NGC2 offering to the test.
The prototype, built on the 25th ID’s existing transport and compute infrastructure, is designed to create a common operating picture across the division and to update data across the system in real time.
At Lightning Surge, that included testing the integration of sUAS data, battlefield graphics, soldier locations, and electromagnetic spectrum information onto a single platform. The team also introduced AI tools that automated field reporting through talk-to-text technology.
Prototype pals: The Lockheed team has moved pretty fast on this prototyping push with their speedy startup friends.
“The Lockheed Martin team showcased the rapid deployment of prototype capability, only one month after representative NGC2 hardware was delivered and installed to the 25ID’s Home Station Mission Command Lab,” the company said in a statement. “By working with industry partners and combining our strengths, we are establishing a solid framework and foundation that enables integration and promotes connectivity.”
Testing tempo: Given that Lightning Surge 2 is already on the calendar for next month and the Lockheed team plans to test their prototype with the 25th ID about once a month, we think it’s safe to say that a little friendly competition has the mega-prime moving like a startup.