In today’s age of data-driven warfare, mere moments can seem like a lifetime when warfighters are trying to maintain situational awareness and close the information-to-decision-making timelines that are critical in a contested environment.

Command and Control Personal Computer (C2PC) was developed to maintain situational awareness and deconflict the battlespace in near real-time fashion for battlespace users, decision makers and commanders, which demonstrates that Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) is possible.

Marines use C2PC to plot with precision and provide a near real-time common operational picture (COP) that can be shared among commanders to understand the situation. This is a critical component in the information management chain for warfighters to make decisions faster and give them a strategic advantage on the battlefield.

Today, the battlespace data is collected and coordinated using a service-oriented enterprise infrastructure. Northrop Grumman has been the main developer for the Tactical Services Oriented Architecture (TSOA) since 2017. This publish-and-subscribe data hub allows for the dissemination of tactical information quickly to the users that need it most – like the distribution of information from the Marine at the tactical edge of the battlespace to the command operations center.

Marcus Hinckley, a retired Marine Corps air command and control officer, utilized C2PC throughout his 25-year career in the Marine Corps, and he now manages the C2PC and TSOA programs as a civilian at Northrop Grumman.

“Getting a chance to be the program manager for C2PC and TSOA is incredible because they are tools I used when I was in the military and I believe in them,” said Marcus, C2PC/TSOA program manager, Northrop Grumman. “We used C2PC while I was deployed for training exercises and combat, and we were able to share near real-time information across the entire Marine Air Ground Task Force and across joint forces to deconflict the battlespace and ultimately, deliver fires faster to defeat the enemy.”

This is a task, he says, that would have taken significantly longer without having access to C2PC.

For two decades, Northrop Grumman’s support of C2PC software has improved command and control for operational forces in more than 40 countries. Northrop Grumman was recently awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity follow-on contract to continue its previous work with the Marine Corps for C2PC and TSOA.

“Our exceptional engineers have maintained and upgraded C2PC and TSOA for more than 20 years,” said Marcus. “We look forward to the continued partnership with the Marine Corps to increase mission effectiveness. Our tools help the Marine Corps do their jobs more efficiently and safely.”

As we define the future of JADC2, mature and cyber-secure programs such as C2PC and TSOA will play a significant role in expanding the capabilities for the Department of Defense in their journey to connect the joint forces as one.