The demands of large-scale combat operations are clear: our warfighters require reliable and timely sustainment support to maintain a decisive advantage. In my last column, I challenged the Army sustainment enterprise (ASE) to transform into a data-centric enterprise, leveraging advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), to streamline processes and maximize resources. Today, we are answering that challenge by integrating our efforts into one of the Army’s most important priorities: Next Generation Command and Control (NGC2). This is how we move from simply using data to making data the foundation of our warfighting decisions.
NGC2 represents a fundamental shift from rigid, stove-piped hardware to a flexible software architecture built on a common data layer. For sustainers, this is revolutionary. No longer are logistics data separate reports or different screens; they are woven into the common operating picture alongside intelligence and operational data. The goal is to provide commanders with the information they need to make faster, better-informed decisions, where the ability to sustain a fight is as visible as the fight itself. This is our mandate, and the ASE is leading the Army in leveraging data and analytics to meet it.
Within the ASE, we are building powerful applications that feed and leverage this new ecosystem. This data-centric approach starts at the tactical edge. Applications like ParaLine empower Soldiers by cutting inventory times in half and ensuring clean, accurate data flow up from the field. New AI-assisted maintenance applications provide 24/7 expert-level troubleshooting, freeing up our logistics assistance representatives to focus on the most complex challenges. This ground-truth data then directly feed strategic decision tools. While not an application for the individual Soldier, Weapon System 360 is a key example, consuming data to give AMC and senior sustainers the enterprise-wide visibility needed to make critical decisions about the supply chain. This is the model for how sustainment plugs into the larger C2 ecosystem.
This is where we turn visibility into action. When data highlight a critical shortage, advanced manufacturing provides an agile solution. Through collaborative efforts, we can now use digital 3D models to create on-demand replacements, dramatically reducing readiness gaps. In a contested environment where traditional supply lines are no longer guaranteed, this ability to produce critical parts at the point of need is not just efficiency — it is a warfighting imperative. A key example of this agility was our collaboration with the 101st Airborne Division, where our organic industrial base turned direct Soldier feedback into rapidly prototyped tactical drones, delivering transformative capabilities at the speed of relevance.
NGC2 is the architectural backbone for our Army. Our role in the ASE is to deliver powerful applications and agile sustainment that are predictive and precise, all fueled by clean data. By converging these systems, we are transforming sustainment into a proactive, integrated partner in the fight, ensuring we can deliver combat readiness and give commanders the dominance needed to deploy, fight and win — anytime, anywhere.
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LTG Christopher O. Mohan currently serves as the commanding general of U.S. Army Materiel Command. He was commissioned into the Army from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, where he graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate. His military education includes the Ordnance Officer Basic Course, the Combined Logistics Officer Advanced Course, the Naval College of Command and Staff, and the Army War College. He holds a Master of Science degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College and a Master of Science degree in military strategy from the Army War College.
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This article was published in the winter 2026 issue of Army Sustainment.
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