The Army awarded Anduril Industries a contract on Sept. 30 worth up to $1.8 billion over five years to help the service transition its new battlefield software from the experimentation phase to the fielding phase.
Anduril previously helped develop the prototype for the service’s Next Generation Command and Control, or NGC2, for the 4th Infantry Division, using its proprietary AI-powered operating system Lattice.
“A common data layer allows the Army to integrate new systems without rebuilding the underlying architecture for every sensor, application, or weapon, so new capabilities can be fielded on the same foundation as those already in use,” Anduril said.
The Army awarded $162.8 million to Anduril to continue working on NGC2’s common data baseline, or software foundation, as it begins to implement it across the service’s I Corps, which commands service members across the Indo-Pacific.
The contract contains options that can grow its value up to $1.8 billion.
Anduril, along with Palantir, Raft and Striveworks, have helped build out the baseline.
The NGC2 system will allow technologies, weapons, sensors, devices and applications from across the force to operate on the same network and increase decision-making speed on the battlefield.
By expanding the NGC2 system to the I Corps, technologies will have to figure out ways to connect to the same network despite being separated by thousands of miles and experiencing interrupted or degraded connectivity.
This will provide the Army and Anduril an opportunity to test how well information flows between the systems as they access the NGC2 framework in a myriad of environments.
During a July 2026 ten-day event at Fort Irwin, California, entitled Project Convergence-Capstone 6, the Army asked 10,000 participants from U.S. and allied forces, as well as industry partners using 90 technologies to test software for the NGC2.
Afterward, the Army awarded a contract to Anduril to develop the software prototype for NGC2 for the 4th Infantry Division.
Over the past year, Anduril has conducted several operational exercises in collaboration with the Army to test the NGC2’s common data layer baseline.
In May, Anduril deployed its NGC2 system at Fort Carson and Pinon Canyon, using over 160 tactical edge computers, over 2,500 devices and 40 applications while navigating simulated cyber and electromagnetic attacks.
Two months later, after a joint force exercise at Fort Irwin, the service said the battlefield command system was ready to be scaled.
The NGC2 is set to replace the Army’s first-gen command-and-control system, which helps control fire, logistics and airspace on the battlefield.
The Army has made it clear that it wants to implement the NGC2 as soon as possible.
“We know the biggest risk to our national security and our national defense is not moving too fast. It’s not moving fast enough,” said former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. “The side that can sense a target, process the data, and deliver a kinetic effect the fastest, wins. That is the decisive advantage this capability provides.”
Riley Ceder is a Navy reporter at Military Times, where he covers issues directly affecting service members and their families, as well as breaking news.
