U.S. Army Requests $3.78 Billion for Next Generation Command and Control in FY27 Budget

U.S. Army unveiled plans for the future of its ground vehicle fleet and identified Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2) as its biggest modernization priority, according to Breaking Defense. The plans include procuring over 100 XM30 vehicles in the coming years, providing hundreds of millions of dollars for the Mobile Tactical Cannon (MTC) program, and investing almost $4 billion across consolidated NGC2 budget lines.

Maj. Gen. Rebecca McElwain, director of the Army budget, told reporters during the Pentagon’s budget rollout on Tuesday that the Army is in the midst of its most significant modernization in over 40 years.

McElwain stated that this involves developing and fielding new capabilities while adapting formations, training and concepts to the character of modern warfare. The Pentagon’s FY27 budget request allocates nearly $547 million to procure 19 XM30 vehicles.

U.S. Army wants to procure a total of 108 XM30 vehicles by FY31. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment participated in a virtual experiment at the Detroit Arsenal in Warren, Michigan. The virtual experiment involved soldiers providing input on possible crew configurations for the XM30 Combat Vehicle.

Army's seventh attempt at replacing the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. U.S. Army published a call to industry in February for ground combat vehicles. An Army spokesperson told Breaking Defense in February that the Army is not going to rubber-stamp a process that has consistently failed to deliver the capabilities our warfighters need.

General Dynamics Land Systems and American Rheinmetall are developing XM30 vehicles. The two companies are slated to deliver a handful of XM30 prototypes this summer. U.S. Army’s Self-Propelled Howitzer Modernization effort.

The MTC program could serve as an alternate to the Paladin system. U.S. Army is asking for nearly $697 million for the MTC program in FY27 RDT&E justification books. Procurement funding for Paladins decreased from $715 million in FY26 to $84 million in FY27.

FY27 funding for Paladins will support vehicle fieldings as the program transitions toward sustainment. FY26 is the final year of production contract awards for Paladins. U.S. Army had planned to procure Paladin systems until at least FY29.

Officials told reporters at Tuesday’s briefing that as we see the changing nature of warfare, we recognize that a lot of the transformation efforts have reduced the number of ABCTs [armored brigade combat teams] that we have across the total force to reduce our number of Paladins when required for it, but more specifically, looking at more mobile and lighter artillery systems to allow us to operate in different environments at better speed.

The M1E3 Abrams program is slated to replace the legacy M1A1 Abrams. There is $474 million for RDT&E funds for the M1E3 Abrams in the justification books.

There is procurement funding for the M1E3 under the Abrams Upgrade line item. U.S. 78 billion across procurement and RDT&E for NGC2 and its network divestment efforts. U.S. 4 million through RDT&E funding for C2 applications.

S. 1 million through both procurement and RDT&E for C2 data. U.S. 36 billion through RDT&E and procurement for C2 infrastructure. U.S. 78 billion this year. 78 billion includes funding for C2 Now to replace all legacy Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) equipment still in formations.

U.S. Army to field two divisions with NGC2 full-stack capability in FY27. The 4th Infantry Division is currently prototyping the full NGC2 stack, which encompasses a transport layer, integration layer, data layer, and application layer.

Army to procure three additional division equivalents of NGC2 full stack capability for fielding in FY28. U.S. Army to procure approximately 50 percent of the C2 Now hardware to be fielded in FY27 and FY28.

Army consolidated budget line items associated with C2 from 12 major lines in FY26 to six in FY27.