Quantico, Va. –In today’s battlespace, victory belongs to the side that can out-think and out-pace the adversary. The ability to process information and make decisions rapidly is the ultimate competitive edge. Recognizing that Command and Control (C2) systems are often too slow and large, Program Manager Marine Air-Ground Task Force Command and Control (MAGTF C2) is delivering a transformative solution:The Common Hosting Environment (CHE). The CHE initiative is expected to deliver major process improvements, resource efficiencies, and a critical strategic impact that aligns the Marine Corps with the future of warfare. At its core, CHE addresses critical inefficiencies in how tactical applications are deployed. Historically, getting a new application accredited and fielded has been a slow, costly process, often taking many months due to separate, complex security pipelines for the Navy and Marine Corps. CHE resolves this by establishing a standardizedvirtual infrastructure. The system allows both existing and new applications to be hosted on a common platform by acting as a “tactical cloud.” By creating this standardized environment, CHE enables a modern DevSecOps Pipeline (DSOP) and acontinuous Authorization to Operate (cATO)model. This reform cuts down the lengthy six-to-nine-month accreditation window, allowing critical new software capabilities to reach the warfighter swiftly. “By standardizing on a single CHE, the Marine Corps can ensure that applications are built on a consistent, interoperable foundation. This eliminates the "it works on my machine" problem, as containerized applications run uniformly across all environments,” explained Col. Jeffery Van Bourgondien, program manager of MAGTF C2. “More importantly, integrating a DSOP fundamentally enhances the security posture. Security is no longer an afterthought; it is woven into the fabric of the development lifecycle.” A key benefit of this modular system is a massive reduction inSize, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C). The hardware footprint of systems using CHE will be drastically smaller. Where a system previously required six to ten Marines to physically move and set up, the new modular hardware can be handled by a single Marine. This major reduction in system size optimizes manpower, allowing focus towards additional critical mission tasks. Furthermore, by decoupling software from proprietary hardware, CHE is projected to yield significant cost savings—potentially reducing internal MAGTF C2 costs by 50–75% and generating savings across the Department of the Navy while adopting the system. With these cost savings and the newfound flexibility of licensing, MAGTF C2 can reinvest funds into other high-priority and mission essential efforts. “The days of each program purchasing and managing its own array of software licenses are over, and will be replaced by a streamlined, enterprise-wide approach that lowers licensing and support costs. Furthermore, by providing a single, reusable DSOP, the enterprise eliminates the massive expense and duplicated effort of hundreds of teams building their own bespoke pipelines,” explained Van Bourgondien. To ensure CHE meets the needs of the fleet, the program has conducted ongoing Limited User Evaluations (LUE) for the past two years. The 40-person working group, led by Capt. Eric Jimenez, PM MAGTF C2, has put the system directly into the hands of Marines. “In engaging with [Marine Corps Communication-Electronics School] (MCCES), we’re able to introduce new concepts and put early versions of the software into the hands of the instructors and select groups of the student population,” said Jimenez. “Combined with FMF feedback, this is giving us a more comprehensive feedback loop for the developers.” The evaluation's scope has been extensive, involving units from all three Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEFs), MARFORCENT, Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity (MCTSSA), and MCCES. The most recent LUE took place concurrently with the 2nd Marine Logistics Group at Camp Lejeune, NC, and the 12th Marine Littoral Regiment in Okinawa, Japan. The team actively engages with Officers and Chief Warrant Officers to boost awareness and gather input, while surveys provide a direct channel from Marines participating in the LUEs back to the developers. This ensures the system is not only technically sound but also intuitive and effective for the warfighters who will depend on it. “Training times and operational deployment times are dramatically lowered and simplified by the fact that we are leveraging the automation,” explained Chief Warrant Officer 4, Mitchell Stengler, Data Systems Engineering Officer Course Instructor at MCCES. “The key difference is the automation will streamline our ability to get a "basically trained" Marine out the door.” Moving forward, the CHE will focus on two key lines of effort operationally – improving coordination with Training and Education Command to evolve instructional approaches and extending services and platform integration to partner program offices in the United States Marine Corps and United States Navy for current and emerging capabilities. Programmatically, MAGTF C2 will continue to explore ways to reduce sustainment costs by using free and open-source software, and by collaborating with other program offices across the Department of War to leverage more effective acquisition strategies. CHE is a key component of PM MAGTF C2’s broader reformation toward a more modular and agile architecture. This effort directly aligns with the Department of Defense’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2)vision. By shifting from monolithic systems to a condensed and integrated environment, commanders will have a more unified operational picture, accelerate the decision-making cycle, and increase overall combat capability. All apps will be able to run and share data simultaneously, getting critical software capabilities to the warfighter faster than ever.
| Date Taken: | 03.06.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 03.06.2026 12:30 |
| Story ID: | 559523 |
| Location: | QUANTICO, US |
| Web Views: | 14 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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