A recent test of the technology came at the Army’s Project Convergence Capstone 5 event in March at Fort Irwin, California, a joint experimentation venue for the services to test concepts for interoperability in the vein of the Pentagon’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept, which envisions how systems across the entire battlespace could be more effectively and holistically networked to provide the right data to commanders, faster. The word “combined” in the parlance of the framework, refers to bringing foreign partners into the mix.

The Marine Corps Software Factory, located in Austin, Texas with the Army’s Software Factory, developed what it dubbed Crusader software to see if it was a viable alternative to the current commercial middleware used by a lot of units to control these radars, such as Furuno and eventually Simrad, which was not tested at Project Convergence.

While the government and Department of Defense have been pushing the use of commercial-off-the-shelf capabilities as much as possible, the Corps noted several benefits of developing government-built software in this context.

First, radar systems can be complicated and not necessarily geared toward the way troops must employ them. By developing their own software, the Marines at the Software Factory can build tools specifically for Marines at the tactical edge and more easily interface with them as well as other joint service members.

Second, creating government-off-the-shelf software can be cheaper than relying on commercial products.

“It doesn’t cost the government anything more than our salaries to develop it. Whether I develop eight applications in a year or one, we pay you the same,” Capt. Brian Atkinson, a full-stack engineer at the factory, said in an interview.

Moreover, that means there aren’t licensing fees associated with the software, which can not only be costly, but if not managed properly, can expire at the worst possible times.

Atkinson noted he’s experienced licenses expiring in the middle of exercises and been unable to reach out to the vendor to renew it — an untenable situation in real-world operations. Solely relying on vendor support while troops are forward-deployed isn’t always the best option.

The Crusader software, which has been in development for about four months, was an improvement to the existing system, officials said, noting the old software was difficult to use and didn’t fit the plans the Marine Corps had.

The concept behind the new software is that stand-in forces — units based in close proximity to the enemy — need to be able to remote into commercial radar systems such as the Furuno. Those capabilities provide sonar, collision detection and navigation, which overall will give those stand-in forces the ability to extend maritime domain awareness.

Those commercially available radars fit well into the commandant’s Force Design vision because the radars are relatively inexpensive and readily available when compared to traditionally fielded systems, Sgt. Max Idler, a coder and developer, said. Thus, they provide an attractive option when the service can rapidly procure a capability and repurpose it for the joint fight.   

At Project Convergence, categorized as a big success, Crusader and the radars it controlled provided the maritime situational awareness data for the Southern California area for the experiment, which benefited all the joint partners participating. Officials said they processed Furuno radar data, produced tracks and targets off of it, and fed that data through the Secure But Unclassified-Encrypted network.

Officials noted there were tweaks that they needed to make in order for the software to be more user friendly.

Following Project Convergence and working with the Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, the Marines plan to include Crusader on a commercial-off-the-shelf radar kit that will be distributed to the Fleet Marine Force sometime in the next year. If that field user evaluation goes well, Crusader will be the centerpiece of radar processing software on the kit.

The Software Factory is also discovering that there is wider interest and larger demand for Crusader. Given it is government developed, it can be applicable to all elements of the joint team members and potentially coalition partners that wish to use commercial-off-the-shelf radars for situational awareness.

The demand comes from wider DOD interest in using different maritime surveillance capabilities for various mission sets, such as special operations forces.

Officials from Marine Forces Special Operations Command have voiced their desire to use Crusader given it doesn’t require licensing to the radars themselves.

“That is a strategic add to how MARSOC likes to operate,” Idler said, noting they’re looking to test Crusader with them off a tech stack they developed using Raspberry Pi’s.

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The new document will be released “fairly shortly,” Kevin Mulvihill, acting principal deputy CIO, said Monday during the Defense Information Systems Agency’s annual forecast to industry. The directives will build upon the Pentagon’s Software Modernization Strategy published in 2022, as well as the follow-on implementation plan published in 2023, he said at the event.

“We’re in the process right now across the various services and components to update their implementation plans in [fiscal ’25 and ’26], with the focus to accelerate those strategic goals, to adopting the enterprise cloud, really looking at the department-wide software factory ecosystem there,” Mulvihill said.

Along with the Pentagon’s enterprise-wide modernization plan, several of the military departments and other DOD components have been moving in recent years to update how they buy, develop and deploy software for their systems. Some of the services — such as the Army — have published their own software modernization strategies, and others have stood up and bolstered their respective software factories.

Mulvihill said there’s been significant progress among the individual services and components, and that all of the key initiatives outlined in the Pentagon’s implementation plan for software modernization were accomplished by their deadlines.

“Hopefully in a helpful way, we’re trying to bound that with the right level of department-wide guidance and instruction that we’ll have out here fairly shortly from the CIO’s office,” he said. “That helps with the instruction, to really try to advance those software factories but do it in such a way that we protect the software development and make it safer and secure.”

A key element to the Pentagon’s software modernization goals is the proliferation of DevSecOps principles and tools across the enterprise. DISA is in the process of bringing two of its major DevSecOps pipelines — the Command and Control Software Factory (C2SF) and Vulcan — together so that they can “combine forces” and offer more tools to users, DISA Deputy Director Christopher Barnhurst said at Monday’s event.

But more work must be done to change the culture around software development and deployment, Barnhurst added.

“Part of the challenge I see is getting folks to buy into that. And not just buy into it but to understand DevSecOps mentality and processes more in the agile development kind of way of thinking,” Barnhurst added. “Along with all of the policy and the tool sets, it’s more of a cultural shift as well that just takes time to get people in a frame of mind.”

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The funding limitations stem from the committee’s annual defense policy bill, which passed the Senate panel June 13. It pertains to Cybercom’s Joint Cyber Warfighting Architecture (JCWA), designed in 2019 to get a better handle on the capabilities, platforms and programs the command was designing, and set priorities for the Department of Defense as well as the industry partners that would be building them. It includes large programs for data analytics, operations conducted outside DOD networks, dashboards to command forces, and smaller components for individual tools and sensors.

When Cybercom was first created, it relied heavily on intelligence personnel, infrastructure platforms and tradecraft to build its enterprise. But just like the Army needs tanks and the Air Force needs planes to conduct missions, cyber troops need their own military-specific cyber platforms separate from the National Security Agency, which conducts foreign intelligence.

According to a summary of the Senate Armed Service’s bill — the full text of which has not been released as of publication — the committee will limit the funding available for JCWA until the Cybercom commander provides a plan to minimize work under the current architecture and creates a baseline plan for a “Next Generation JCWA.”

According to staff on the committee, they want the DOD to pause the current architecture to make sure it is looking at what the next iteration looks like and how it evolves. The Defense Science Board conducted a study on the architecture.

While staff noted there isn’t any indication the DOD isn’t looking at the next generation, they didn’t want to go too far down the current path before devising plans for how the architecture will evolve.

Cybercom has been on a long journey to develop its own capabilities, stemming from being granted limited acquisition authority in 2016 to realizing full control over its budget beginning in fiscal 2024. One of the main issues is the services still procure many of the capabilities needed by the cyber forces they provide to Cybercom, which over time, has created a hodgepodge of distinct and disparate capabilities that are not well integrated.

As a joint organization overseeing joint cyber teams, the command envisions a warfighting architecture that has the same look and feel across all teams — offensive and defensive — and services. The current architecture encompasses several components built by each of the services on behalf of the joint cyber mission force. The services provide them to Cybercom to conduct cyber operations, as executive agents. As such, JCWA is thought of as a singular platform to conduct military cyber operations, comprised of the sum of its parts.

Officials have alluded to the next generation of JCWA in the past, previously dubbed JCWA 2.0, to better integrate the disparate parts after an in-depth review found some pretty significant deficiencies in the architecture.

Now, the nomenclature has shifted to NextGen, through which Cybercom hopes to evolve the architecture into a more common and integrated platform, Col. Seth Bennett, deputy director of Cybercom’s cyber acquisition and technology directorate, J9, said at the AFCEA TechNet Cyber conference in Baltimore on June 25. Many of the major cyber acquisition programs to date did not have integrated requirements, something that will change going forward while also trying to work backward to integrate what’s already been built retroactively.

“To realize the JCWA Design, USCYBERCOM must balance the need to coalesce around a unifying architectural vision with the fact that the disparate programs already exist in some capacity today, and that the cyber operations forces need capabilities now—they do not have time to wait for a perfectly realized end state,” a chard from Bennett’s presentation read.

JCWA NextGen looks like a “Common Platform Runtime. Today, there are multiple, independently mange [sic] Kubernetes-based service meshes. Work toward a common platform architecture to reduce variance across PMOs. Imagine a fleet of vehicles of varying types, styles, brands, and fuel types for which the team of drivers must learn each vehicle’s needs, idiosyncrasies, and procedures, resulting in significant inefficiencies and delays,” the slide continued, referencing the current state of capabilities.

Also at issue is Congress’ requirement for Cybercom in the fiscal 2023 annual defense policy bill to create a program executive office for JCWA to manage all the capabilities and programs by 2027.

To get there, the command has drafted and outlined its path to initial operational capability and full operational capability. The roadmap includes areas for acquisition policies, hiring and improving the architecture, among others.

The initial operational capability involves continuing to plod along on the current path, something Bennett described as JCWA 1.X, essentially working to lay the groundwork for integration while it works on further developing the programs in progress.

“The idea is that we’ve got to do integration steps along the way. Just because we’re building the PEO and the personnel, doesn’t change the fact that we’ve got to be able to do integration steps,” Bennett said. “There’s clearly spots that we’ve evaluated in that giant architecture where that’s not efficient, that doesn’t make sense, why are there two of those, why are there six of these. We’re picking those spots with our lead architecture and trying to lay out when we’re going to work on integration points.”

The services will continue their work — for which now they will be reimbursed through Cybercom under its new authorities — while the J9 develops the programmatic, organizational and technical outlook for the PEO.

Some examples include aligning and integrating the various software factories across the services. Currently, services run software factories independent and distinct from each other.

“You can’t get to the other software factory from there to see what the amazing tools they’ve developed. Just something as silly as that needs to be integrated, because if you sign into JCWA, you need to be able to go see, look at all the tools, whether it be a Marine, Army, Navy, they should absolutely have them all in one spot so we can go find out how best to use them,” Bennett said. “That’s what we’re going to do in JCWA 1.0 is make those better.”

While the organization continues on its current work, it is also working with the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment to prove it can perform the necessary duties, manage programs and gain milestone decision authority.

Efforts are also underway to gain more staff and acquisition expertise. While the command has gained significantly more authority and funding, its acquisition staff and expertise have remained relatively flat from when it first gained acquisition authority and a budget nearly eight years ago, which was only $75 million per year compared to nearly $3 billion now.

While Cybercom can reach IOC with current staffing, Bennett said, “We will need more billets to get to a full operating capability, no question. I don’t have an answer for you yet on what’s next. How do we get more than what we have today? We’re all working. We’re all trying to do manpower studies and discuss that right now.”

Getting to FOC, on the other hand, will require addressing the findings of the Defense Science Board study, such as redundancy.

“Now we’re faced with: Why are we running six or seven different service mesh clusters when the truth is we can manage them all as a common runtime environment, create the JCWA common runtime environment and manage that in the central spot so that it can maintain its uptime and have its appropriate backups and not waste a lot of money, time and energy?” Bennett said. “That’s what the JCWA NextGen is supposed to be focusing on, making that common runtime environment all at the same time.”

Part of NextGen is aligning the various program offices that the services run on behalf of Cybercom to be value-stream-related and associated with the operational functional needs, such as software agile methodologies.

But until Cybercom gains more authority from the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment to affect programs run by the services, everything is still based upon handshake agreements, Bennett said. The J9 does not have the authority to tell the services how something should look, which is a power retained by the Pentagon’s A&S. Rather, they rely on verbal agreements between the command and service program managers to shape the end state of what Cybercom would like.

“We need that acquisition authority, which is why we’ve got to convince A&S that we can do this so that they can grant it to us. But in the meantime, we can do this,” Bennett said.

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The far-reaching policy — which addresses requirements, testing, procurement, sustainment and personnel — immediately went into effect, and it comes amid a broader push for accelerating digital modernization across the U.S. military.

“We’re learning from current conflicts — including in Ukraine — that the Army’s success on future battlefields will depend on our ability to rapidly update software and disseminate it to the operational force,” Secretary Christine Wormuth said in a statement. “Software development must be a source of our military advantage and the Army’s new software policy will ensure we have the right processes in place to inject innovation quickly and achieve a digital transformation of our warfighting capabilities.”

Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo added that traditional approaches aren’t up to snuff.

“This policy represents a significant effort to comprehensively adjust our legacy software development processes in line with private sector best practices,” he said in a statement.

According to a release summarizing major elements of the new directive, software-based systems “will no longer follow the traditional process in which a system transitions to sustainment once development is complete. In line with industry best practices, these systems will instead plan for continuous improvement and development over the entirety of the lifecycle. This change recognizes that modern software development is never complete.”

The policy also calls for maximizing use of the Pentagon’s software acquisition pathway — which was instituted in 2020 by then-Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord — flexible strategies such as “modular contracting,” and contract types that allow for “refinement of the requirements as the software evolves and user needs change.”

Soldiers are expected to have major input in the development of those requirements, which are to be written as “high level needs statements” rather than “prescriptive requirements documents.”

The Army intends to streamline testing of new capabilities and cybersecurity validation processes, including for obtaining authority to operate on the service’s networks.

Meanwhile, the service is looking to boost its organic software development know-how and make it more widely available across the department.

To that end, the Army is standing up a new Digital Capabilities Contracting Center of Excellence at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, that is expected to be fully operational in September.

According to a release issued last year by the program executive office for enterprise information systems, the new center of excellence is expected to serve as a model for agile procurement of digital tools and be tasked with “sharing playbooks” on best contracting practices with other contracting organizations.

Additionally, a new “software management and response team” at Army headquarters will aid enterprise-wide efforts.

The Army also has a software factory in Austin, Texas, which is a pilot effort that allows soldiers to train other soldiers in coding.

The service will explore additional ways to recruit, retain and upskill people with software talent, according to the policy announcement.

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The Marine Corps Software Factory (MCSWF) was stood up in 2023 as a three-year pilot to hone and demonstrate troops’ coding skills, show that there’s a demand for the concept and that it can be scaled. It’s co-located with the Army Software Factory in Austin, Texas, one of the nation’s top technology hubs.

“What we’re doing is we’re almost singularly focused on generating a force with the right technical skill sets to be able to provide an operational capability in terms of digital operations. And when I say ‘digital operations,’ I’m talking about software development, data analytics, AI, machine learning, that type of thing. Just to provide these commanders a meaningful way of being able to compete with our peer adversaries,” Lt. Col. Charlie Bahk, a communications officer and director of the organization, said during a panel at GovCIO’s Defense IT Summit Feb. 9.

Marines there have already churned out four new applications. Three of them are tactical in nature, he told DefenseScoop during an audience Q&A at the event.

“I have to be cognizant of the clearance levels, you know, OpSec and all that. But one of them is about maximizing our maritime radar assets to be able to give the fleet commander a more comprehensive picture of what is happening in that domain. And it’s fully interoperable. It’s interoperable with not just one, but multiple different types of sensors out there. Full-motion video as well,” he noted.

Another uses QR-code technology that can transmit information from unit to unit across long distances and in areas where satellite transmissions or radio transmissions are being jammed and impeded.

The other tactical app is related to “blue-force” signature management, or “understanding where or how brightly you glow on a common operational picture, based off your electromagnetic spectrum activity,” Bahk said.

The fourth app is intended to streamline back-office operations.

“It’s on the garrison or the business side where our monitors or detailers, you know, like the people that cut orders for Marines to their next assignments and work out the retention packages and things like that,” he noted. “You can imagine, due to the sheer numbers of people that they have to engage with, the potential for miscommunication and long wait times and missed appointments and hurt feelings … I mean, it’s just tremendously high.”

To address that, the software factory built a tool to gather data from service members before they meet with those types of officials.

“What we’ve done is created a simple application that streamlines a lot of that, cuts down dramatically the wait times for each of those Marines. It compels them to preload a lot of the standardized information that the monitors should already know about them, [such as] whether or not their spouse is in a graduate-level program or has a very important job or if they have an exceptional family member in the family,” he explained.

The interview window is short, in many cases only about 10 minutes, according to Bahk. The app is intended to make better use of that time.

“Most of those 10 minutes are used in discussing things that should already be known. So what this application does is it helps us streamline the flow of information. And now all of those 10 minutes are used in meaningful conversation that the Marine wants to cover with their monitor. Which if you ask me, I think that downstream of this, it helps to feed into the Marine’s mindset as far as: ‘Am I cared for by the institution? Should I reenlist? Do I want to continue to serve?’” Bahk said.

The software factory pilot is unfolding at a time when the Pentagon is putting increased emphasis on digital modernization and the rapid fielding and upgrading of software. That trend is expected to continue as the military acquires more AI capabilities and pursues new warfighting concepts like Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control (CJADC2).

Building up coding skills within the Marine Corps is seen as a way to better connect software gurus with deployed warfighters and provide operational value more quickly without relying on contractor support.

“When we have organic uniformed service members doing this type of work and leveraging the infrastructure … we tend to immediately open up a line of like an iteration loop, that’s a line of communication with the commanders on the ground, and say, ‘Hey, here’s our [minimum viable product] that we’re delivering to you within weeks — days, weeks and months, not years. Right? And make sure that we got it right. And if we don’t, roger that, we’ll see you next week and we’ll deliver it — or we’ll see you later today,” Bahk said.

“When we delivered these applications, we got to see them employ it in real-time. And as any rollout goes, there are a couple of hiccups here and there. Zero findings, but a couple of hiccups, performance issues — or maybe the users then think of a feature that they would like us to work on and deploy. We were able to do that. And we’re doing that today, within the same day. We’re pushing to production several times a day. And the responsiveness and the quality — the user base is tremendously happy with that model,” he said.

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In October, the service’s Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George first told DefenseScoop about how he’d charged a team of Army Software Factory technologists to prototype such a tool — dubbed then “My Army Post” — in a bid to improve soldiers’ and their families’ lives with support from technology. 

Following that, the Army now “requires development of an enterprise mobile application that portrays a responsive, user-centric solution to address the specific challenges and demands faced by soldiers, dependents, retirees, Department of the Army Civilians, and installation visitors entering and exiting military installations,” and is tailored for each specific post, according to a new contracting document.

“An initial version of the mobile app, ‘My Army Post,’ was developed by the Army Software Factory (ASWF). It is undetermined if this requirement will incorporate use of ASWF efforts or if a new app will be requested to be developed by industry. Feedback from industry could assist in shaping any related technical requirements,” officials wrote in the sources sought synopsis. 

That 7-page document outlines a variety of features that Army leadership envisions for the final product, including information about local housing, spouse employment and child care options; senior commander messaging capabilities; map navigation and real-time gate traffic alerts; and more.

Officials confirmed that “this requirement may be set aside for small businesses or procured through full and open competition, and multiple awards may be made” based on responses they receive to this request. 

Notably, they also state explicitly that the “requirement will necessitate servers capable of handling Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) materials, Federal Employees and Contractors Only (FEDCON) shared with Department of Defense (DoD) contractors.” 

Those interested in providing feedback to the Army are asked to address 7 questions in their responses. Among other topics, officials want input on pricing and the contract types that could make the most sense for this pursuit — and on appropriate data and software rights. 

Responses are due by Dec. 6. 

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Gen. Randy George, the service’s chief of staff, unveiled the status and vision for this in-the-works tool — dubbed My Army Post — during a meeting with reporters at the annual AUSA conference this week. 

“What we’re trying to do is do things that will help improve the lives of our soldiers and families, and a big part of that is also making sure that people are welcome to a new installation. I remember going to a new installation many years ago and it’s daunting to show up there. And so we just want to make sure that they have access to the resources there,” he told DefenseScoop at the media roundtable. 

George said he and Army Secretary Christine Wormuth both “wanted to make sure we can communicate with our soldiers and families” — so, they recently tasked two captains from Army Future Command’s software factory to build this new tool. 

“For about the last two weeks, they’ve been making updates. Right now, they’ve been focused on Fort Cavazos. And I would describe what they’re doing as really developing the requirements for the kind of app that we really need,” George explained.  

The digital tool is essentially being iteratively designed in a way that it will incorporate different details and elements to properly reflect each Army post.

Broadly though, the technology will inform troops who opt to use it about things like the most commonly used gates and notices about traffic and road closures, local weather, and hours of operations for gyms, restaurants, hospitals and PX/commissary.

“In just weeks, Army Software Factory soldiers already have a beta version in place that they are using to bring the power of a modern DevSecOps approach to soldiers, families and garrison teams. We use this as the ideal tool for rapid, user-centered feedback as we continue to refine both this beta version as well as the ultimate Army requirement,” Col. Vito Errico, the software factory’s director, told DefenseScoop on Thursday.

Throughout the development and design process so far, officials on his team have worked deliberately to gain insights and suggestions from potential future users of the app that can inform its making.

“The novelty of employing soldiers to gather the data like a commercial software company has helped us get fast, candid feedback. This includes several hundred survey responses, interviews with key personnel like garrison commanders and public affairs teams, and site visits to various base service providers in close partnership with” Army Installation Management Command, Army Materiel Command and the chief of staff’s office, Errico noted.

Army leaders also hosted an event during AUSA to gauge recommendations from military spouses on features they’d like to see incorporated into the app.  

During a media engagement at the conference, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Weimer told DefenseScoop that the app makers’ goal is to make sure the tool will have enough flexibility to adjust to the requirements of each individual installation.

“One of the pieces we’ve noticed in the feedback we’ve received is that what works for Fort Wainwright is a little different than [Forts Irwin, Johnson or others]. So, those garrison command teams out there can have the ability to make that app unique to their needs at that location,” he said.

Maj. Jeffrey Lee, spokesperson for the Army chief of staff, told DefenseScoop that My Army Post is in line with a message George has been emphasizing in his many engagements and visits with commanders: “Providing timely and accurate info delivers predictability to soldiers and families — and tech needs to help that, not hurt that.”

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As opposed to the old waterfall method the program currently executes, the Army will be releasing new capability drops at minimum once per quarter for the Command Post Computing Environment. CPCE is a web-enabled system that will consolidate current mission systems and programs into a single user interface at command posts to provide a common operational picture.

The shift is part of an Army-wide change led by Young Bang, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, and Jennifer Swanson, chief systems engineer for the ASAALT office, to push the Army to become more software centric.

“My entire portfolio is pivoting to an agile CI/CD [or continuous integration/continuous delivery] approach. Six months ago, that would have been really unthinkable,” Col. Matthew Paul, project manager for mission command at Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical, said during a presentation at an AFCEA Aberdeen chapter event Sept. 26. “CPCE is going to be one of my trailblazers.”

Paul explained that the current way of doing business, whereby there are increments executed serially over a period of time that can often take upwards of two years to complete, is not suitable for the current threat environment coupled with advancements in the commercial technology world.

“The reality is, Army priorities change all the time, user feedback changes, world events happen and priorities change. We need a strategy that can keep pace with the speed of change,” he said. “Every three months, we wash, rinse and repeat. But what’s important is that we reevaluate our priorities. Every quarter, every sprint, we’re reevaluating our priorities and we’re adapting accordingly. That’s our new strategy.”

In a July interview, Paul told DefenseScoop that the new approach to a software centric, CI/CD model will be a major effort for the program office, because it’s a paradigm shift.

“It’s a big lift. We have to sort of retool our software factories. We have to reengineer all of our business processes,” he said. “Acquisition is a team sport, so we’ve got to get all of our stakeholders on board. They too need to modify their processes and procedures so they can be in a position to support the new acquisition strategy. What I would say is all of our stakeholders have been incredibly supportive and had been embracing the change. We have not encountered any resistance. I think we’re on a good track. I think 2024 is going to be a big year of transition. I think we’re going to get banged up a little bit, we may get a little bloody, but as we get reps and sets, we’re going to get more efficient over time, as a community.”

CPCE is thought of as an ecosystem of applications and systems as opposed to a singular thing. As such, Paul analogized the acquisition approach to that of Lego blocks that can be integrated into the environment.

The Army issued requests for information from industry in three priority capability areas: collaboration, data science platform and data science tools and a data catalog.

These three areas were what stood out over the past year working with the community of stakeholders and at Army exercises.

Paul highlighted a phased approach to capabilities, with the first phase described as the “fight tonight” phase focused on the next three to four years. Phase two is expected to begin in the 2027 time frame.

Paul didn’t offer many details about the next phase as to not get ahead of those working it, but noted it needs to be able to thrive in unforgiving, large-scale combat environments of the future.

The science-and-technology community, Combat Capabilities Development Command and Army Futures Command headquarters are “going to start to turn up the volume on new S&T initiatives that they’re going to be working on to evaluate or reevaluate what command and control needs to look like in the future within that large-scale combat operations context,” he said. “What does that next-generation C2 capability to be? That’s going to involve some prototyping, it’s going to involve some experimentation, industry outreach, user feedback, all of that.”

Paul hopes to not have a major singular event in 2027, but rather, an “in-stride transition” to the new, reimagined CPCE of the future.

“I will make the assumption today that phase two of our approach will require some pretty significant changes to how we implement capability and how we host capability, how we deploy capability. It will likely involve new competition, recompeting major elements of CPCE,” he said. “It’s going to take us a couple of years to set conditions for that, working with you all, beginning the dialogue, engaging our S&T partners, engaging our requirements managers, etc.”

Both chambers of Congress have taken a keen interest in CPCE. In their respective versions of the fiscal 2024 defense policy bill, they direct briefings from the Army on a CPCE award as well as how the service is assessing the scalability of commercial off-the-shelf capabilities for the program.

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Vito Errico is director of the Army Software Factory which is located near Army Futures Command headquarters in Austin, Texas. The organization is spearheading the service’s efforts to build up its organic software talent. Unlike some of the U.S. military’s other software factories, the Army Software Factory is primarily led by troops. He previously served as executive officer to the Army G-8, special assistant to the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, and an air cavalry leader and task force intelligence officer in Afghanistan, Iraq and other locations.

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The tactical data fabric is a federated system that will enhance commanders’ ability to access data and synchronize it between echelons and formations more seamlessly. The master data node concept is always on and connected to as many authoritative data sources as it can to ensure access from the enterprise level to the tactical edge.

“We validated our tactical data fabric concept of employment, using master data nodes and tactical data nodes, establishing persistent connections to authoritative data and then synchronizing that data with the I Corps formations at the edge. We proved that out … we know that that works,” Col. Matthew Paul, project manager for mission command at the program executive office for command, control, communications-tactical, told DefenseScoop in an interview at TechNet Augusta. “The concept is sound, the technologies are sound.”

The concept is in line with Army Secretary Christine Wormuth’s No. 2 priority for the Army: data centricity.

Following the exercise, Paul noted that there is still some work to do with the data ecosystem itself. Other lessons learned included how to visualize data and what the commander’s staff wants to see within their common operational picture.

The next steps will involve scaling the capability using a hybrid cloud infrastructure, Paul said.

“Ultimately, we want to get capability as close to the edge that we possibly can. Because right now there’s a gap between where most of the data resides in the enterprise and where the soldiers actually get out and fight and conduct operations,” he said. “Strategically planning where those nodes need to be, throughout the cyberspace is going to be important as we complete our plan.”

This work will be conducted with several partners such as the Network Cross Functional Team and the Army Software Factory led by the Army G-3/5/7 in accordance with the Army’s data plan.

Stakeholders will continue to meet to figure out how to scale the capability, but Paul offered some potential avenues for further testing in the future.

“We’re looking at places like Europe, we’re looking at other space activity, such as Project Convergence. Nothing is firm just yet. But we’re for planning what we need to demonstrate next and in what specific venue. We’re looking at exercises and we’re looking at what the COCOMs and where their gaps are,” he said. “We’ll probably have a follow-up maybe later in October to lay out what are the next concrete steps that we’re going to take and where things are going to be demonstrated over.”

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