Lockheed Martin's Next Generation Command and Control prototype underwent operational testing during exercise Balikatan 2026.
Lockheed Martin's Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) prototype underwent operational testing during exercise Balikatan 2026, as US and Philippine forces evaluated whether integrated digital systems can accelerate decision-making across air, land, and fires operations in a distributed Indo-Pacific theater.
The prototype consolidated sensor data, fires coordination, and airspace management into a unified operational picture.
The objective was to assess whether a shared data environment could compress the detect-to-engage timeline while sustaining situational awareness across geographically dispersed command nodes.
The system was operated across multiple nodes spanning Hawaii, the continental United States, and the Philippines, reflecting a distributed operational setup.
Live-Fire Integration
The prototype's most demanding test came during a counter-landing live-fire scenario, where it linked sensor inputs to firing systems in near real-time.
Apache helicopters, artillery, mortars, and HIMARS rocket systems all operated under the system's coordination layer, which simultaneously generated battle damage assessments and performance metrics.
The architecture functioned as a distributed data layer connecting edge nodes in the Philippines with command nodes in Hawaii and the US mainland. This allowed commanders to maintain a shared operational picture across long distances without relying on a centralized command hub.
Airspace management was tested in parallel, with the system fusing radar and tracking feeds from multiple sources into a single display to enable real-time deconfliction during simultaneous fires operations.
The system also demonstrated interoperability with allied forces by enabling data sharing across classification levels, supporting a common operational picture between US and Philippine units during the exercise.
Development Approach and Industry Partners
The NGC2 demonstration ran alongside "Lightning Surge 3," the third iteration of a test series designed to refine system capabilities through direct operational feedback.
Development partners include Amazon Web Services, Raft, Lyntris, and Rune, supporting cloud-based data processing and distributed connectivity.
Balikatan itself is an annual US-Philippines exercise spanning air, land, sea, cyber, and space domains.
The 2026 iteration included experimentation with emerging command-and-control systems intended for distributed operations in the Indo-Pacific region.
“During Balikatan, success came down to how well we could integrate across Army units, joint forces and Indo-Pacific partners,” said Chandra Marshall, vice president of Multi-Domain Combat Systems at Lockheed Martin. “That ability to operate seamlessly across the coalition is what makes Team Lockheed Martin’s NGC2 prototype real.”
Findings from the exercise will feed into future Lightning Surge iterations, with development expected to expand into logistics and sustainment applications.
