Anduril will lead the Army’s newly established common data layer baseline for Next Generation Command and Control after the service validated the modernized network architecture operationally at major test events last month.  

Anduril’s Lattice system, in partnership with Palantir’s Foundry and several other software tools, will provide an “edge-to-cloud data mesh” within the NGC2 stack, the Army said in an announcement today. The companies are also paired with software and artificial-intelligence company Raft, which provides its data platform to help with registries, data transformation tools and data federation.  

“We are already moving out with the converged data layer architecture,” Joseph Welch, portfolio acquisition executive for command and control and counter-C2, said in the announcement. “Our vendor partners have demonstrated great teamwork and flexibility in helping us establish this baseline and set the groundwork for rapid scaling.” 

The Army set up the common data layer as part of two 10-month exercise series with the 4th Infantry Division and 25ID, each respectively helmed by team leads Anduril and Lockheed Martin.  

Anduril built its NGC2 ecosystem with 4ID during the Army’s Ivy Sting series over the past year and culminated in last month’s Ivy Mass exercise. The exercise “stressed every element of NGC2” at the division level at Ft. Carson, CO, and the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, CO, according to the announcement. The division tested the network against cyber and electromagnetic threats, which helped prove out the NGC2 stack.  

Next month, 4ID will attempt to validate NGC2 at Project Convergence Capstone 6 at the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, CA. PCC6 will involve a “force-on-force” test event to pave the way toward transitioning from prototyping to “scaling product delivery,” the announcement says.  

Data is one of four layers within the NGC2 stack which also includes transport, applications and infrastructure layers. The four layers correspond to line items in the Army’s fiscal year 2027 budget request as part of the service’s effort to consolidate funding for faster and more flexible investment.  

The Army has asked for $1.58 billion in procurement dollars for C2 Transport and $1.29 billion for C2 Infrastructure in its FY-27 request, although signs on the Hill point to potential reductions.  

House authorizers, in their draft defense policy bill, would shave $710 million in authorized funds from the NGC2 effort.  

And Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), ranking member of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, has also expressed skepticism to Army Secretary Dan Driscoll about the NGC2 agile funding strategy.  

The lack of transparency “sets us up for friction and possible failure,” she said during an April hearing.