Nine companies now have a direct line into the Army's next battlefield network, and their code is headed first to the corps that commands soldiers in the Indo-Pacific. The Army will pay a one-year total of $93.6 million, spread across nine companies, to build applications for its Next Generation Command and Control program, known as NGC2. C4ISRNET reported the awards on Oct. 14, and Defense Daily reported that the capabilities are set to deploy with U.S. Army Pacific's I Corps as the service moves to corps-scale fielding.
The awards buy applications that run on top of the NGC2 data foundation, rather than funding the foundation itself. That widens the NGC2 vendor base beyond the handful of firms that built the foundation, at least for the first year.
Who Shares the $93.6 Million NGC2 Application Pot?
The nine awardees named by C4ISRNET and Defense Daily are:
- General Dynamics Mission Systems
- Air Space Intelligence Federal
- Immersive Wisdom
- LMI
- Mente Systems
- Stilman Advanced Strategies
- Onebrief
- Rune Technologies
- AIR
The list pairs one traditional prime, General Dynamics Mission Systems, with eight other firms. The reporting available does not break out the value of each company's share, so the published figure covers the nine contracts combined. Defense Daily described the awards as one-year contracts, which makes them initial awards rather than multiyear production deals. C4ISRNET called them "initial contracts."
That structure matters for how the Army buys software. A one-year total spread across nine vendors gives the service room to compare products in the field before it commits larger sums to any single application. Companies that perform well in I Corps may be well placed for follow-on work; companies that do not could be left with a short contract and little else.
Apps Ride on the Anduril-Led Common Data Baseline
None of the nine companies is named as a builder of the underlying foundation. According to C4ISRNET, the applications "will be hosted on the common data baseline, or software foundation, that Anduril Industries, Palantir, Raft and Striveworks have built in collaboration with the Army."
The foundation already carries a large contract of its own. The Army awarded Anduril Industries a $162.8 million contract on Sept. 30 worth up to $1.8 billion to continue refining the NGC2 common data baseline, C4ISRNET reported. The new application awards add a second tier of vendors who will plug into that baseline instead of competing with it.
Brig. Gen. Shane Taylor, portfolio management executive for the Command and Control Information Network, framed the awards as both an immediate buy and a template for later entrants. "While the Army is providing capability we can deploy today, we’re also providing a blueprint and reference point for how industry can integrate in the future with interoperability and speed," Taylor said, according to C4ISRNET.
That "blueprint" language suggests the Army wants other application vendors to be able to follow these nine, and that interoperability with the shared baseline will matter for anyone trying to join.
What Will the Apps Do Across Six Warfighting Functions?
NGC2 is designed as a shared network in which technologies, weapons, sensors, devices and applications operate together to increase decision-making speed on the battlefield. The Army said the system and the new applications will allow information sharing across its six warfighting functions: command and control, fires, intelligence, movement and maneuver, sustainment and protection, C4ISRNET reported.
Those six functions span nearly everything a corps headquarters does, from targeting and intelligence fusion to logistics and force protection. Spreading the work across nine firms suggests the Army may want specialized tools for distinct jobs rather than one monolithic command suite, though the available reporting does not tie individual companies to specific functions.
Why I Corps Is the Next Test for NGC2
The Army is in the process of delivering NGC2 software to I Corps, which commands service members in the Indo-Pacific. C4ISRNET reported that the move will further test whether the software can host technologies and devices separated by thousands of miles, some of them in communication-contested environments.
That is a broader problem than the division-level work that came before. Over the past year, the Army moved NGC2 from prototype development to fielding, putting software in the hands of soldiers at the 4th and 25th Infantry Divisions. A corps headquarters coordinates multiple divisions, and in the Pacific the distances involved make bandwidth hard to take for granted.
In July 2026, the Army also hosted Project Convergence Capstone 6, a 10-day event at Fort Irwin, California, to test NGC2 software. C4ISRNET reported that the event asked 10,000 participants from U.S. and allied forces and industry partners, using 90 technologies, to test the software. A joint force exercise at Fort Irwin in May marked the end of the NGC2 prototype phase, and the Army came away saying the platform was ready to be scaled up.
Defense Daily characterized the new awards as coming as the service moves to "corps-scale fielding" of NGC2. The nine companies' applications are slated to deploy with I Corps, according to Defense Daily.
What It Means for Contractors
For firms outside the nine, the message is that the NGC2 market now has two distinct lanes. The data baseline lane belongs to Anduril, Palantir, Raft and Striveworks, with Anduril holding a contract worth up to $1.8 billion. The application lane is open to the nine awardees for now, and the Army's own language points to building against the common baseline. Taylor's description of the awards as a "blueprint and reference point" for future integration suggests the Army could judge later bidders on how cleanly they connect to that foundation, though that is an inference rather than a stated policy.
Several practical points follow:
- Short contracts, high scrutiny. One-year awards give the Army an early exit. Awardees will likely need to show results in I Corps quickly to earn follow-on funding.
- Interoperability looks like the gate. Firms hoping to join later rounds should plan to integrate with the existing common data baseline rather than pitch a competing platform.
- Function-specific products may have room. With six warfighting functions in scope, companies with deep tools in one area, such as sustainment or fires, may be able to compete without offering a full command suite.
- Contested networks are the test. The Indo-Pacific deployment is meant to test technologies across long distances and in communication-contested environments. Vendors whose products assume steady connectivity will likely struggle.
- Teaming opportunities. Larger primes and integrators that missed this round can look to partner with the nine awardees or the four baseline builders as fielding expands to more units.
The available reporting does not give individual contract values, so the competitive picture inside the $93.6 million remains unclear. What is clear is the structure: a small group of foundation builders, a new tier of nine application vendors, and a corps in the Pacific serving as the next proving ground.
