Army awards Air $200 million contract for next-generation command and control

Overview

Updated Oct 19

The Army is replacing its separate command systems with a shared, AI-enabled network. On October 12, the Department of War awarded Air, the defense software firm formerly known as Govini, a $200 million, five-year contract to support that effort.

That award is one of several scaling the Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) program from division-level prototyping to fielded capability. On October 13, Immersive Wisdom, one of nine companies that won initial application awards, received a task order to deliver collaboration software to I Corps. Two days later, the Army gave Shift5 a $99 million contract to feed weapons-system data into the network.

Why it matters

The Army is trading decades-old, single-vendor command systems for a modular AI network that connects sensors, logistics, and fires across the Pacific theater.

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Key Indicators

$200M

Air contract value

Five-year contract awarded to Air for the NGC2 ecosystem.

$93.6M

Nine-company application awards

Initial one-year value for commercial NGC2 warfighting applications.

$1.8B

Potential Anduril data layer contract

Total value over five years if all options are exercised.

$99M

ASI contract value

Five-year IDIQ contract for AI-powered forecasting and fires deconfliction.

$99M

Shift5 contract value

Five-year contract for operational data from weapons systems across NGC2.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Tara Murphy Dougherty

Chief Executive Officer, Air

Leading Air's NGC2 work

Joseph Welch

Portfolio Acquisition Executive, Command and Control, U.S. Army

Overseeing NGC2 acquisition strategy

Toby Magsig

Chief Executive Officer, Shift5

Leading Shift5's NGC2 work

Michael Appelbaum

Chief Executive Officer, Immersive Wisdom

Leading Immersive Wisdom's NGC2 work

Organizations Involved

Air

Defense Software Company

Holds $200M NGC2 contract

Defense software company formerly known as Govini, focused on enterprise readiness and logistics.

Anduril

Defense Technology Company

Leads NGC2 common data layer

Defense technology company building the NGC2 distributed data architecture around its Lattice software.

Department of War

Federal department

Contracting authority for NGC2

The U.S. military department responsible for the Army, which awarded the Air contract on October 12, 2026.

I Corps

U.S. Army Corps

First unit slated to receive NGC2 software

U.S. Army corps headquartered at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, commanding formations across the Pacific.

Air Space Intelligence

Software company

Holds $99M NGC2-related IDIQ contract

Operational AI company building control systems for critical industries and defense.

Shift5

Operational Intelligence Platform

Holds $99M NGC2 contract

Operational Intelligence platform for defense and transportation systems.

Immersive Wisdom

Defense Software Company

Holds NGC2 task order for I Corps delivery

Boca Raton, Florida software firm building a remote collaboration platform for distributed, bandwidth-limited operations.

Timeline

June 2026 October 2026

9 events Latest: October 15th, 2026 · 4 weeks ago

Tap a bar to jump to that date

October 2026
Army awards Shift5 $99M contract for NGC2
Latest Contract Award

Shift5 received a five-year, $99 million contract to expand its role from prototyping partner to NGC2 component. The company feeds operational data from weapons systems into the network.
October 15th, 2026
Immersive Wisdom awarded NGC2 task order for I Corps
Contract Award

Immersive Wisdom, one of nine companies with NGC2 application awards, received a task order to deliver its collaboration software to I Corps under its Army Enterprise IDIQ.
October 13th, 2026
DoW awards Air $200M five-year contract for NGC2
Contract Award

Department of War awards Air a $200 million, five-year contract supporting the NGC2 ecosystem, extending a partnership that began with division-level prototyping.
October 12th, 2026
Army awards ASI $99M contract for command and control
Contract Award

ASI received a five-year, $99 million Enterprise IDIQ contract to scale its AI-powered forecasting software across the Army's modernized command and control efforts. The initial task order expands fires deconfliction at the Corps level.
October 8th, 2026
Army awards $93.6M to nine companies for NGC2 applications
Contract Award

Initial one-year awards to General Dynamics Mission Systems, Air Space Intelligence Federal, Immersive Wisdom, LMI, Mente Systems, Stilman Advanced Strategies, Onebrief, Rune Technologies, and AIR.
October 7th, 2026
Anduril announces $162.8M base award for I Corps data layer
Contract Award

Anduril's award to expand the NGC2 common data layer to I Corps carries options up to $1.8 billion over five years.
October 5th, 2026
August 2026
Army selects Striveworks for NGC2 AI layer
Contract Award

Striveworks chosen to lead the artificial intelligence layer of the NGC2 architecture.
August 2026
July 2026
Project Convergence Capstone 6 tests NGC2 applications
Exercise

Soldiers use NGC2 applications during the Army's premier future-warfare exercise, deployed across an entire division.
July 2026
June 2026
Army selects Anduril to lead NGC2 data layer
Contract Award

Army chooses Anduril to build the NGC2 common data layer baseline, with Palantir and Raft as partners.
June 2026

Scenarios

NGC2 scales across the force as planned

Likely Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Army program officials, defense industry analysts

I Corps receives the NGC2 applications for training and upcoming exercises. The Army evaluates whether capabilities demonstrated at division level work across a larger formation spanning the Pacific. Success would lead to expansion to other corps and continued vendor awards.

Integration challenges slow NGC2 deployment

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: Defense Daily, The Arsenal Report

Technical issues with the data layer, AI capabilities, or application integration delay fielding. The Army announces schedule changes or additional testing before I Corps receives the software. Network resilience under electronic warfare and cyber threats is a particular concern in the Pacific theater.

NGC2 program faces cost and oversight scrutiny

Possible Resolves by End of 2027

Discussed by: Congressional oversight committees, Government Accountability Office

As NGC2's total value grows past $2 billion across data, AI, and application layers, Congress or the GAO launches reviews of cost, schedule, and performance. The program faces budget pressure or restructuring similar to past Army network modernization efforts.

Striveworks announces $200M AI layer award

Likely Resolves by End of 2026

Discussed by: Breaking Defense

Striveworks, which leads the NGC2 AI layer, is expected to announce a new $200 million award on top of the $70 million it received previously. The company will provide its Chariot suite of software platforms to help soldiers turn data into decisions.

Historical Context

2 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

1990s-2000s

FBCB2 / Blue Force Tracker (1990s-2000s)

The Army fielded Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below, its first digital command and control system, in the early 2000s. Built by a single vendor, it displayed friendly and enemy positions on digital maps for brigade and below units.

Then

FBCB2 improved situational awareness in Iraq and Afghanistan but was difficult to update and integrate with other systems.

Now

Its limitations helped drive the Army's shift toward modular, open architectures for command and control.

Why this matters now

FBCB2 shows the problems with single-vendor, monolithic C2 systems that NGC2 is designed to avoid.

2000s-2010s

WIN-T (2000s-2010s)

The Warfighter Information Network-Tactical was the Army's program to build a mobile tactical communications network. It faced repeated cost overruns and performance failures in operational testing.

Then

The Army restructured WIN-T multiple times and eventually scaled back the program.

Now

It became a cautionary tale for large, single-architecture military IT programs.

Why this matters now

WIN-T's failures underscore the risks NGC2 faces as it scales, and the reasons the Army chose a modular approach with multiple vendors.