Army issues just under $100M in application awards for NGC2 to 9 companies

WASHIGTON — The Army announced today it awarded nine companies contracts collectively totaling around $93.6 million to supply applications in support of the Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) effort — the latest move in the service’s effort to field the technology as it scales to the corps level.

The companies include General Dynamics Mission Systems, Air Space Intelligence Federal, Immersive Wisdom, LMI Consulting, Mente Systems, Stilman Advanced Strategies, Onebrief, Rune Technologies, and AIR (formerly Govini) with contracts for an initial one-year period.

The applications will enable critical software capabilities that will be delivered to I Corps in the Pacific, which is the first fielding organization for NGC2, and will perform functions across six warfighting areas: C2, Fires, Intelligence, Movement/Maneuver, Sustainment, and Protection.

An Army spokesperson declined to provide details about the specific tasks the applications will perform, due to security concerns, but told Breaking Defense that generally, the apps will allow soldiers and commanders conduct faster and more integrated planning, synchronization, operational modeling and course of action analysis; airspace management and deconfliction, as well as sustainment management and decision support.

Joseph Welch, portfolio acquisition executive Command and Control (C2)/Counter C2, said in the release, “Providing core software applications is a critical next step. It provides a foundation that can be rapidly scaled and trained with continuity across the force.”

Today’s announcement comes after Anduril revealed a new pricetag for early NGC2 work. In June, the Army announced Anduril would lead the common data layer baseline with support from Palantir and Raft. At the time, a value for the award was not given, as it was awarded under an enterprise licensing agreement that the Army entered into with Anduril with a 10-year, $20 billion ceiling. But Monday, the company announced an “initial base period valued at $162.8 million, with options that could bring its total value to $1.8 billion over five years.”

Then in August, Striveworks was selected to lead the artificial intelligence layer. Similar to the data layer award, contract values were not disclosed at the time it was awarded. Today, however, a spokesperson from Striveworks told Breaking Defense the company will soon announce a new $200 million award on top of $70 million it received previously. Striveworks will also provide its Chariot suite of software platforms which, in part, ensure AI models continue working in changing environments, allowing soldiers to turn vast amounts of information into actionable decisions in minutes.

The Army has maintained that through its commercial solutions opening, it will continue to onboard relevant technologies as needed for the NGC2 architecture.