US Army's Next Generation Command and Control System Shows Connectivity Issues in Desert Exercise

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US Army Tests Next-Generation Battlefield Software in California Desert

The US Army is developing new warfighting software designed to transform how it conducts large-scale, high-speed, high-tech warfare. A recent major exercise in the California desert highlighted both the urgency behind the service’s rapid development and the significant challenges that remain before the system can be deployed effectively in combat.

Testing the Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2)

At Fort Irwin, California, the Army tested its Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) system as part of the Project Capstone Convergence exercise. The system is complex and ambitious, representing a complete overhaul of how the Army plans and fights.

During the exercise, soldiers used NGC2 to:

• Locate friendly forces on a digital map
• Communicate via laptops, tablets, and MPU5 radios
• Collect data to inform battlefield moves
• Manage airspace
• Make weapon and maneuver decisions

However, some technologies observed by Business Insider were not yet connected to NGC2. Soldiers also reported connection issues that sometimes rendered elements of the system unusable.

Central Challenge: Connectivity and Integration

The occasional shortcomings that emerged during the experimentation at Fort Irwin highlight the central challenge facing the NGC2 project and the work that lies ahead.

The Army aims to connect nearly everything on the battlefield into a single networked system. This vision depends on weapons, drones, and communications working together effectively under tough conditions—including electronic warfare designed specifically to disrupt them.

"We still got challenges to work through," said Joe Welch, an Army senior civilian executive overseeing NGC2's development. "But I mean, I've done this kind of work in the Army for most of my career, and I've never seen anything move nearly as fast as what we've delivered over the past nine to 10 months."

A Major Overhaul of Command and Control

Army leadership made a significant bet on NGC2 last year, beginning prototyping with the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, and a smaller version led by different vendors at the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. The 4th Infantry Division's NGC2 effort is led by a team of companies, including Anduril.

Army leadership describes NGC2 as a substantial replacement for older, siloed systems, with data at the forefront of the change. A data layer stores information and shares it with applications inside the system. These applications cover a range of warfighting functions:

• Some apps communicate intelligence on enemy positions and weapons.
• Other applications manage supplies, ammunition, and logistics to sustain soldiers and coordinate fires on enemy targets.
• The transportation layer keeps data secure and moves it where needed.
• Artificial intelligence capabilities are also involved in processing data and reviewing battle plans.

Key Questions and Performance Under Pressure

Several big questions drove the experimentation with NGC2 at the California exercise.

"How do we use our apps to command and control more efficiently? How do we use those apps to make decisions so that we can close the kill chain faster?" said Brig. Gen. Daniel Hibner, head of the Army Joint Modernization Command.

The Army also examined how NGC2 would perform:

• At a larger scale than the earlier Ivy Mass exercise
• Under jamming and dispersal conditions
• Without close vendor support (vendors were not allowed in the key experimentation area, troubleshooting instead from tents at Fort Irwin)

Soldier Feedback: Benefits and Growing Pains

Over days of simulated combat, some areas of NGC2 proved valuable for soldiers. Mobile command posts allowed decision-making on the go and supported more dispersed, virtual communications.

"We've had more apps that help us for things like mission planning. We are now much more efficient and can mission plan a lot faster, distributed," said Lt. Col. Shawn Scott, a unit commander within the 4th Infantry Division. Soldiers can gather more data to inform what assets to use and how to use them. If a mission changes, soldiers can quickly adapt to new orders and movements.

"Currently, it is helpful with being able to quickly talk to people," said Capt. Dominic Sparkling, a unit commander within the 4th Infantry Division. He said NGC2 helps him communicate with his soldiers, make decisions, and give commanders a clearer picture of what's happening on the battlefield.

However, soldiers also acknowledged that NGC2 is still in a prototyping phase, with bugs and integration gaps still being worked out. While some drones, like Anduril's GhostX, were plugged into NGC2, others that the Army was testing—including the Bolt-Munition and Rogue 1—were not. The Army attributed the lack of connection to ongoing integration work.