The U.S. Army selected Anduril to lead the common data layer baseline for its Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) initiative, with the announcement made on Monday. Anduril will use its Lattice software to manage data, applications, and artificial intelligence models for the NGC2 initiative.

The contract was awarded under a 10-year enterprise licensing agreement with a ceiling of up to $20 billion, an agreement the Army awarded to Anduril in March. No specific dollar amount was provided for this particular baseline award. Anduril will partner with Palantir to provide an edge-to-cloud data mesh incorporating Lattice and Palantir's Foundry system. Additionally, Anduril will partner with Raft for NGC2 data and services registries, data transformation tools, and data federation via the Raft Data Platform.

Joseph Welch, portfolio acquisition executive for Command and Control (C2)/Counter C2, addressed the developments. "We are already moving out with the converged data layer architecture," Welch said. "Our vendor partners have demonstrated great teamwork and flexibility in helping us establish this baseline and set the groundwork for rapid scaling."

Anduril served as the NGC2 team lead for the 4th Infantry Division, while Lockheed Martin served as the NGC2 team lead for the 25th Infantry Division. Anduril and the 4th Infantry Division completed an exercise called Ivy Mass at Fort Carson, Colorado, in May. Ivy Mass was the last of six modernization sprints before Project Convergence-Capstone 6. The 4th Infantry Division will go to Project Convergence in July.

Zach Kramer, Anduril's Mission Command lead, discussed the approach. "The idea is that nothing is one-size-fits-all," Kramer said. "[What] they are doing is taking that common data layer, helping to tailor the applications to the mission needs, and then working with the unit on the transformation as to how do they update their fight, how do they do these things and use it." "And that is where the powerful partnership is coming in." Lockheed Martin will remain the lead for the 25th Infantry Division's full-stack operational implementation and will customize applications, algorithms, and hardware while collaborating with Anduril. Anduril has started integrating its baseline layer for the 25th Infantry Division.

Brig. Gen. Shane Taylor, capability program executive for Command and Control Information Network, stated that this marks a step forward. "This is a major step forward as NGC2 evolves into a phase of continuous delivery and we provide this capability at the speed of relevance," Taylor said. "We continue to encourage industry self-teaming and collaboration to adjust capabilities to commander priorities, operational needs and emerging technologies." The data layer Anduril will provide is one of four layers in the NGC2 full stack, which also includes the transport, integration, and application layers.

Dan Driscoll, Secretary of the Army, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in May that the biggest risk to the Army Transformation Initiative is not moving fast enough. "The biggest risk [to the Army Transformation Initiative] is not going fast enough," Driscoll said. "Next Gen C2, we think we will be in all the divisions, or we're modeling it to be in all the divisions within five years." "I think we need to do it two or three." Anduril and Lockheed Martin tested parallel mission command systems for the Army starting last year. Lockheed Martin and the 25th Infantry Division integrated sensors, fires platforms, and airspace management systems during the Balikatan 2026 exercise in the Philippines, which ended last month.