4th Infantry Division spearheads effort to scale Next Generation Command and Control prototype, potentially transforming the future of Army operations.
FORT CARSON, Colo. — The Army’s Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) initiative could fundamentally alter how the service fights, according to Brig. Gen. Michael Kaloostian. „The expectation is this is going to entirely change the way the Army is going to fight,” Kaloostian told Breaking Defense.
The 4th Infantry Division is at the forefront of this data management revolution, participating in the Ivy Sting command and control exercises. Following a successful demonstration at the battalion level last year, the Army is now working to scale its modernized network to a division level, with a deadline of Project Convergence Capstone 6 this summer. The Army awarded Anduril and a team of vendors nearly $100 million to develop a division-level NGC2 prototype.
NGC2, the Army’s top modernization priority, aims to provide commanders with a new approach to manage information, data, and command and control.
Ivy Sting: A Serialized Approach
To meet its goals, the 4th ID is conducting a series of events called Ivy Sting, incrementally adding new capabilities every six weeks, culminating in a division-wide event called Ivy Mass.
Ivy Sting 1, which took place in mid-September, focused on validating data transfer over the NGC2 ecosystem using a beta version of the Artillery Execution Suite (AXS) software.
C2 Support Element: An Internal Organization
The 4th ID created the C2 Support Element, an organization under the division’s chief of staff, to integrate new gear and coordinate with vendors and other elements of the Army enterprise. This element owns the integration, data, and application layers, while the division’s G6 owns the transport layer.
NGC2 in the Field and in the Lab
All units across the division will receive, train, and integrate new NGC2 capabilities, including brigades deployed in Korea, the southern border, and the Middle East.
The Army and 4th ID have also established an integration lab at Fort Carson, housing industry engineers to test NGC2 with the unit on the ground, iterate, and modernize the division.
Tom Keane, senior vice president of engineering at Anduril, stated, „When you look at what we’re doing here, we’re talking to systems that we weren’t talking to at PCC5 because now we’re talking to real weapons. We’re bringing in more real-world data.”
The integration lab also includes acquisition, requirements, and doctrine professionals to coordinate NGC2 holistically.
Sequential Events
Col. Chris Anderson, program manager for NGC2, said the Ivy Sting „sequential events with new learning demands for each one is a giant pressurization of the system.”
The overall goal of the Sting events is to add more capability and ensure formations are improving at using them effectively, which the Army believes could prompt major changes for the service long term.
Cooperation Across Units
The Army is seeking feedback on multiple systems, vendors, formations, and regions, moving away from „pure fleeting” systems and tailoring equipment to specific units based on priority, mission, and theater.
Another NGC2 Prototype
Lockheed Martin is also working on an integrated data layer for the 25th Infantry Division under the NGC2 portfolio. Officials said the efforts are more complimentary than competing.
Officials from 25th ID attended Ivy Sting 1 to learn lessons and share their experience.
Looking Ahead
The Army will evaluate after-action reviews from Ivy Sting 1 and adjust stretch goals for Ivy Sting 2, which will include airspace management and command and control elements of the headquarters.
Future iterations will include more contested and congested environments such as jamming.
Following Project Convergence 6, the Army will decide on specific systems to purchase and which units to field them to. The goal is to have decisions ready to go to begin buying and fielding to units across the Army.
