The NATO Land Command and Control Information Service (LC2IS) is the main functional service in NATO supporting land-heavy operations. Used for the production and management of the Recognized Ground Picture, it is a key enabler of the NATO Common Operation Picture. The current version of LC2IS (v.5) is used in all NATO Response Force (NRF) preparation exercises by the NATO Command Structure (NCS) and by several Corps in the NATO Force Structure (NFS).
In February 2017 LC2IS Increment 2, comprising the new versions v.6.0 and v.6.1, was authorized. Started a few months later - May 2017 - its development by a French contractor is now well-under way.
Version 6.0 – supporting improved national interoperability using the MIP (Multilateral Interoperability Program) Baseline 3.1 protocol and a new interface with the Logistics Service LOGFAS – underwent a major test phase on 16-20 October 2017. Tests included: the System Integration Test, interoperability tests with national systems from the Netherlands and United States, and a User Assessment Test (UAT) with representatives from ACT, LANDCOM, Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum and Rapid Reaction Corps-France. SHAPE declared the UAT was successfully passed. The test planning, preparation, execution and assessment phases saw the involvement of both the C2 Service Line and the contractor – who is currently completing a patch that addresses various non-critical issues identified by the users.
Version 6.0 will enter the last qualification phase (Independent Validation and Verification and Security Testing) in December and is expected to be officially released in February 2018 - on time and budget - in order to be employed in the NRF-19 preparation exercises.
Version 6.1 will offer a number of improvements, including an upgrade of the Human Machine Interface Library, and the replacement of existing commercial components which are no-longer supported by Microsoft. Its release is planned for February 2019, in time for the NRF-20 cycle.