The U.S. Department of the Air Force has completed prototype evaluations for a new portable command-and-control system engineered to operate semi-autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) from forward or austere locations. Known as C2E, the mobile system underwent ground operational demonstrations hosted by the Ohio Air National Guard’s 178th Wing at Springfield Air National Guard Base to evaluate vendor mobility, software agility, and connectivity under simulated field conditions.
As reported by Defence Blog, the evaluation represents the initial phase toward selecting a primary system integrator for the C2E program. Evaluators focused on testing software performance and deployment footprints to shape the Air Force’s broader acquisition strategy, ensuring the C2E platform can support Agile Combat Employment operations at the Experimental Operations Unit and integrate directly with production CCA platforms.
According to Agile Development Office Director Col. Eric Reagan and CCA software materiel leader Lt. Col. Gregory Bieler, placing working prototypes directly into the hands of operational warfighters accelerates the delivery of capabilities to the Department of War. The military will transition to a second prototype evaluation phase, which will require participating defense vendors to demonstrate cloud capabilities for the C2E platform.
