Command and control prototype demonstrated during U.S. Army exercise by Lockheed Martin
NewsJanuary 26, 2026
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii. Lockheed Martin demonstrated the first iteration of a Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) prototype during the U.S. Army’s Lightning Surge 1 exercise with the 25th Infantry Division and other stakeholders, the company announced in a statement.
The NGC2 effort is intended to change how digital mission command is conducted by using a common data layer to support a continuous common operating picture, the statement reads. Lockheed Martin said its prototype is designed to run on the 25th Infantry Division’s existing transport and compute environment, supporting operations across echelons and spanning cloud-to-edge computing, according to the statement.
During Lightning Surge 1, the company said it deployed prototype capability about one month after representative NGC2 hardware was delivered and installed in the 25th Infantry Division’s Home Station Mission Command Lab, the statement reads. The prototype includes a common data layer with artificial intelligence tools, including voice and chat natural language processing to support spot reporting, the company says. The common data layer is intended to update information across applications in real time and reduce manual processes, according to the statement.
Lockheed Martin said it is the U.S. Army Team Lead for the 25th Infantry Division NGC2 prototype and is working with partners including Raft and Accelint, the statement reads. Lightning Surge 2 is scheduled for February 2026 and is expected to focus on a fires mission thread supporting the division, the company says.
