NGCN: The Next Generation Core Network Connecting Defence’s Digital Future

Overview

Cloud infrastructure is only as useful as the network that connects it. The MOD can invest billions in hyperscale computing, AI platforms and digital command systems, but if the underlying network cannot carry the data at the speed, bandwidth and security levels required, the entire digital transformation stalls. The Next Generation Core Network — NGCN — is the programme designed to ensure that does not happen.

NGCN is the MOD’s enterprise network modernisation programme, replacing legacy infrastructure with cloud- and software-defined networking, advanced routing, network segmentation, encrypted communications, automated performance monitoring and resilient failover across both classified and unclassified environments. It will enable seamless connection between sensors, effectors, platforms and decision-makers across military and business domains, supporting all MOD operational, intelligence and support functions.

The programme is specifically designed with cyber-resilience as a core outcome, ensuring robust defences against evolving threats and future adversaries. It is engineered for rapid expansion, modular upgrades and interoperability with coalition partners and emerging joint All-Domain Command and Control architectures. NGCN supports the game-changing use cases envisioned in Defence’s digital transformation plan, including real-time sensor feeds, autonomous platform management, mobile headquarters deployment, bandwidth-intensive applications and integration with next-generation terminals such as the Next Generation Land Terminal.

Strategic Purpose and Objectives

The Backbone’s Backbone

NGCN is foundational for the MOD’s future integrated force concept. It enables the digital transformation of all military services and MOD support organisations, providing the backbone for AI and machine learning exploitation, distributed data fusion, rapid theatre command, joint and coalition interoperability, and force-wide digital enablement for new operational concepts such as sensor fusion, edge orchestration and digitally agile tactical headquarters.

The network modernisation aligns with the MOD’s shift to multi-cloud, data-centric and open architectures supporting battlefield decision superiority. Its deployment is a cornerstone of the MOD’s cyber-resilience strategy, digital innovation roadmap and high-priority communications capabilities. Without a modern core network, the data generated by CIRRUS’s cloud platforms, the decisions enabled by the Digital Targeting Web and the communications carried by TRINITY and Morpheus simply cannot flow at the speed and scale that modern operations require.

Budget and Financial Structure

Programme Value

The estimated MOD contract value for NGCN’s initial delivery phase is £10 million over a twenty-three-month procurement period. However, future capability expansion will attract additional investment across the Common Technology Architecture portfolio, Digital Backbone and Defence Digital budgets, where annual spending exceeds £2 billion. Land domain-specific upgrades, such as the Next Generation Land Terminal, are contracted separately and align with the wider military communications refresh.

Budget Division and Holder

MOD Defence Digital is the strategic owner and funder, with delivery integrated across MOD Commercial, DE&S for hardware and procurement management, and cyber and information security technical specialists. Programme leadership sits with Defence Digital, with project management and delivery coordinated with MOD digital infrastructure architects. The NGCN programme office within Defence Digital holds contract and acquisition responsibility.

Procurement and Acquisition

Acquisition Pipeline

NGCN is listed in the MOD digital infrastructure portfolio pipeline, aligned with the Common Technology Architecture, Digital Backbone and Defence Digital transformation roadmaps. Procurement runs via the Defence Sourcing Portal, CCS digital and network framework agreements, and competitive industry tendering for innovation and sustainability.

Tender Information

The NGCN contract and first capability phase tender were announced in the MOD pipeline in 2024–2025, with rollout scheduled over twenty-three months and an option to extend. Additional tenders for CTA integration, device management, cyber services and future terminal upgrades are ongoing or anticipated as the capability matures. Tender references are held under MOD Defence Digital network and communications programme headings within the Defence Sourcing Portal and CCS framework identifiers.

Why It Matters

NGCN is the programme that connects everything else. In the MOD’s digital architecture, CIRRUS provides the cloud, the Digital Targeting Web provides the operational logic, and NGCN provides the network that binds them together. Without a modern, cyber-resilient, high-bandwidth core network, Defence’s digital ambitions cannot be realised — data cannot flow, decisions cannot be made at speed, and the integrated force concept remains an aspiration rather than an operational reality.

The programme’s emphasis on software-defined networking, automated management and modular upgrades reflects the MOD’s recognition that networks must be as agile and adaptable as the forces they support. Legacy networks, with their fixed capacity, manual configuration and limited resilience, are fundamentally incompatible with the cloud-native, data-intensive, multi-domain operations that Defence is building towards. NGCN replaces that legacy with a network designed for the future.

For industry, NGCN represents opportunity in software-defined networking, cybersecurity, network management and monitoring, encrypted communications, edge computing and integration services. The programme’s alignment with the broader Digital Backbone and CTA portfolios means that companies positioned in the NGCN supply chain are also well placed for adjacent programmes. The competitive tendering approach and use of CCS frameworks ensure that opportunities are accessible to a range of providers, from established networking primes to specialist cyber and software companies.

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