{"id":2073,"date":"2025-12-17T02:00:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T02:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=2073"},"modified":"2026-02-12T12:34:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T12:34:39","slug":"army-teams-with-industry-to-refine-ai-potential-supporting-command-and-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daily-bullet.com\/?p=2073","title":{"rendered":"Army Teams with Industry to Refine AI Potential Supporting Command and Control"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. \u2014 There are no algorithms in foxholes \u2013 yet.<\/p>\n

While the U.S. Army has applied emerging artificial intelligence tools to streamline processes across the enterprise \u2014 most recently with the rollout of the Department of War\u2019s new generative AI website, GenAI.mil<\/a> \u2014 the impact of AI on the tactical edge Soldier and commander is still taking shape.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

With the help of industry experts and Soldier experimentation, however, the Army is building a blueprint for algorithmic warfare at the edge across technology, training, concepts, procurement, and ethical implementation. The potential of AI supporting command and control, C2 \u2014 using tools to rapidly process data, inform commanders\u2019 decisions, speed the fires kill chain, and reduce the cognitive burden on Soldiers \u2014 is a major focus of ongoing operational prototyping of Next Generation Command and Control, NGC2, the Army\u2019s priority effort to leverage rapid progress in commercial technology to deliver information across all warfighting functions.<\/p>\n

The overarching goal of AI for C2, leaders said, is to enable human decisions at machine speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo other technology will have a bigger impact on future warfare than artificial intelligence,\u201d said Brig. Gen. Michael Kaloostian, director of the Command and Control Future Capability Directorate, U.S. Army Transformation and Training Command. \u201cThe way we harness and adopt AI to support decision-making, and to make sense of what is expected to be a very chaotic battlefield in the future, will ultimately give commanders options to achieve decision overmatch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Applying AI at echelon \u2014 designing secure models for austere conditions, tailorable for specific missions and warfighting functions \u2014 was the focus of an industry workshop conducted earlier this month by the C2 Future Capability Directorate and Army Contracting Command-Aberdeen Proving Ground.<\/p>\n

The market research event, with technical experts from a range of companies and Army organizations, produced feedback on how the Army can better leverage private sector innovation in AI for C2. Areas to maximize industry opportunities and expertise included prioritization of desired capabilities over time, as well as the availability and relevance of Army warfighting and training data that AI models can consume.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody sees private sector investment happening in AI, so where does the tactical Army fit in the AI market?\u201d said Col. Chris Anderson, project manager Data and AI for Capability Program Executive Command, Control, Communications and Network. \u201cThe Army\u2019s unique value proposition for industry is our data and access to warfighters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The workshop session also came on the heels of a request for information released on Sam.gov on Dec. 2, focused on gaining industry feedback on the emerging data architecture for NGC2. The Army securely shared the draft architecture on Sam.gov to foster transparency and invite industry ideas that will augment the current NGC2 prototype experimentation and designs underway with vendor teams supporting the 4th Infantry Division and 25th Infantry Division.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Army\u2019s approach with Next Generation C2 has always been commercially driven, with industry as foundational partners,\u201d said Joe Welch, portfolio acquisition executive for C2\/Counter C2, and Executive Director, T2COM. \u201cThat means all of industry \u2014 not just our current team leads, but a large range of companies that can contribute to a thriving ecosystem. This RFI is another step in our commitment to sharing technical details and applying industry feedback as we move forward with NGC2.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One challenge the Army and industry are jointly facing with AI implementation at the edge is that models are only as good as the data they can ingest and interpret. But available data, as well as computing and network resources required to process it, will vary widely depending on the tactical environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor AI at the strategic level, that\u2019s almost entirely unconstrained by store and compute,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cDown at the foxhole, it\u2019s an entirely different story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of that complexity, the Army is designing the NGC2 ecosystem to rapidly onboard new AI models, building on a common foundation but able to address new missions and environments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking to really provide an ecosystem so that model developers and Soldiers have the capability to fine-tune models at the edge,\u201d Welch said. \u201cWhen we say that the Army has specific model gaps that we need addressed, it will be a pipeline to very rapidly move that through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another element of the Army\u2019s roadmap is determining what algorithmic warfare capability is required by echelon, from Corps to company and below, informed by the data each unit needs to make decisions, Kaloostian said. The NGC2 prototyping underway with the 4th ID\u2019s Ivy Sting and 25th ID\u2019s Lightning Surge events is providing significant insight into those requirements, as well as the tactics, techniques and procedures for employing different AI applications, he said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Even as technology and concepts rapidly evolve, the Army will maintain its ethical standards in using AI to support C2 decisions made by humans, leaders said. For example, during the 4ID Ivy Sting series at Fort Carson, Colorado, the division has trained AI models to review sensor data and rapidly recognize, process, and nominate targets. The commander reviews that information and decides whether to order a fire mission. At the staff level, AI can also reduce the time Soldiers spend sifting through and organizing data from a constantly expanding range of data sources and digital systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of what we\u2019re looking to provide here is a reduction in the cognitive burden that comes with the use of a lot of digital tools,\u201d Welch said. \u201cNot just AI target recognition, but generalized AI capabilities are going to help lower that cognitive burden so that our Soldiers can focus on their core tasks to complete the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Claire Heininger<\/em><\/p>\n

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