The Department of the Air Force has successfully concluded prototype evaluations for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) Portable Command and Control Enclave, known as the C2E. This milestone aims to advance the tactical control of semi-autonomous systems and provide greater operational agility for future combat environments.
The evaluations involved ground operations demonstrations from industry partners. Evaluators tested the mobility and physical footprint of these portable command-and-control systems within simulated austere environments to ensure they can be deployed anywhere in the world. Following these physical tests, vendors performed demonstrations to showcase software agility and seamless connectivity.
According to Col. Eric Reagan, Director of the Agile Development Office, putting prototypes into the hands of operational and acquisitions warfighters for combined evaluation embodies acquisition transformation. This approach is intended to accelerate the fielding of best-value capabilities to the Department of War.
The demonstrations were hosted by the Ohio Air National Guard’s 178th Wing at Springfield Air National Guard Base. Lt Col Gregory Bieler, Materiel Leader for CCA Software, Autonomy and Teaming, stated that the 178th Wing's support allowed evaluators and partners to focus on technical performance and established a foundation for future integration and testing.
This initial evaluation phase is the first step toward selecting the C2E integrator. The selected system will support Agile Combat Employment operations at the Experimental Operations Unit and integrate with production aircraft to provide a decisive advantage in contested environments. Data from these demonstrations will inform the C2E selection process and lead into a second prototype phase focused on cloud capabilities.
