DOD maps out plan for new enterprise command-and-control program office, C2 suite
The Pentagon is looking to launch a new Enterprise Command and Control Program Office in a move that would consolidate and refresh its long-standing efforts to provide common operating panes and user-specific AI tools to track and target enemies in real time.
This envisioned hub would combine and expand the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office’s Maven Smart System (MSS) and Edge Data Mesh capabilities into the “Enterprise C2 Suite” — a new platform and program of record for Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control and Al-enabled warfighting options, according to sources familiar with the plan who requested anonymity to discuss it ahead of a forthcoming, official announcement.
Internal guidance regarding a new EC2 Program Office suggests that its establishment would ensure that the Defense Department has the “authority, resources, and accountability to deliver capability at the speed of relevance.”
DOD’s undersecretariats for Intelligence and Security (I&S) and Research and Engineering (R&E) would be directed to deliver a plan for “the expedient transition of MSS authorities, infrastructure, support activities, and responsibilities” from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to the EC2 Program Office.
This new program office would essentially fuse multiple Pentagon elements that have come to fruition since the late 2010s, and are associated with digitizing command-and-control processes and deploying AI across the joint force.
Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or CJADC2, refers to DOD’s broad concept to connect all of the U.S. military’s sensors, shooters, and decision-makers across air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace and seamlessly move data across the services and with coalition partners.
MSS is an AI-enabled software platform that roots back to the Pentagon’s now-defunct Project Maven. It was developed by Palantir Technologies and serves as a foundational component for realizing CJADC2.
In 2022, responsibilities for most of the Maven program’s features were split between NGA and the CDAO, while certain duties shifted to the I&S office. All three organizations have been mostly unforthcoming about Maven-related operations since the transition.
Without providing many details, DOD revealed plans in 2025 to increase the military’s contract ceiling for Palantir’s MSS from the initial $480 million to nearly $1.3 billion through 2029.
In response to questions about the office’s impending establishment from DefenseScoop on Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesperson said: “We have nothing to announce at this time.”
An NGA spokesperson referred questions to DOD.
