The Next Generation Constructive (NGC) Team, in collaboration with vendors and the XVIII Airborne Corps Operational Data Team (ODT), successfully participated in Synthetic Dragon 2025 from Dec. 15-19, at Fort Bragg’s Joint Innovation Outpost (JIOP).
This critical event focused on integrating NGC capabilities, preparing for the upcoming Risk Reduction Event (RRE) 1.0, and demonstrating the NGC rapid prototyping of Atom Engine simulation engine’s capabilities within the Enterprise Cloud Management Agency (ECMA) cloud environment.
A significant milestone achieved during Synthetic Dragon was the Authority to Operate (ATO) granted by the Army Chief Information Officer (CIO), enabling the successful demonstration of NGC capabilities streamed from the Army Cloud. This achievement underscores NGC’s readiness for the January RRE and highlights its potential to support future operations.
“This milestone was made possible through the strong partnership and support of the Army CIO and ECMA,” said Brent Bell, NGC product director at Capability Program Executive Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (CPE STRI). “Their support enabled the NGC minimum viable product to operate in the cloud, allowing real-time assessment and development during Synthetic Dragon with the XVIII Airborne Corps through the JIOP.”
Emphasizing the importance of collaboration and innovation during the event, Bell said this type of teamwork accelerated feedback, reduced risk, and delivered operationally relevant capability to the warfighter.
According to Bell, Synthetic Dragon provided a hands-on opportunity to integrate, iterate, and evaluate NGC into the cloud environment, address technical challenges, and transparently showcase its current capabilities to key stakeholders. This included active participation across several NGC vendor teams, Amazon Web Services, Combined Arms Center-Training (CAC-T), XVIII Airborne Corps staff, and others.
During the event, NGC successfully provisioned an instance of its capability in the ECMA IL5 Development Environment and deployed the simulation engine as a virtual machine instance to the IL5 Production Environment using a limited local hardware footprint that is a radical shift from legacy on-prem hardware intensive approaches. This deployment enabled an end-to-end fires thread connection with the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS), validating the system’s end-to-end connectivity and operational readiness.
In addition to the fires demonstration, Bell said NGC showcased its capabilities across space, cyber, and intelligence domains. The team also conducted load testing of warfighting functions by scaling users into the simulation engine, further demonstrating the system’s scalability and ability to support operational demands.
According to Bell, this was coupled with capturing agile feedback on new, fresh capabilities to inform future program increment backlog planning. The ability to directly, and with hands-on approach, iterate with developer and users in a common setting sets the conditions for future constructive training transformation.
Amit Kapadia, chief engineer at Project Manager Synthetic Environment (PM SE) at CPE STRI, highlighted the value of field engagement and real-world testing.
“Modern delivery of capability means moving out of your comfort zone, your office, and getting out into the field to show nascent capabilities and provide opportunities for iterative feedback and transparent review,” said Kapadia. “That is exactly what we did with the Program Office, multiple vendors, XVIII Airborne Corps Soldiers, operators, and others. This is a dynamic game-changing approach that will allow us to deliver more rapid and relevant capabilities in for the modern, high OPTEMPO battlefield.”
Representatives from U.S. Army Europe and Africa (USREUR-AF) and the Center for Army Analysis (CAA) also attended the event to gain deeper insights into the status of NGC capability development. Following these discussions, the NGC team agreed to integrate CAA into its sprint process and initiate efforts to assess the demand signal and requirements for supporting the broader analysis community.
The Synthetic Dragon experiment demonstrated CPE STRI, PM SE, and NGC’s commitment to delivering innovative solutions and advancing operational capabilities. By addressing technical challenges, incorporating stakeholder feedback, and validating its systems in real-world scenarios, NGC is ensuring readiness for future challenges and maintaining alignment with critical timelines.
Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, CPE STRI is comprised of a highly skilled and diverse workforce of more than 1,100 Soldiers, Army civilians and contractors, who work with Army partners to enhance operational readiness and support the Army’s modernization efforts by fielding and sustaining the next generation of multi-domain operations testing, training and information operations capabilities.
Via Program Executive Office Simulation, Training and Instrumentation
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