Base Networks Were Utility Bills. Now They're Warfighting Systems.

The Hiring Surge Behind BIM

The program moved from contract vehicle to workforce action in July 2025, when General Dynamics Information Technology received the first task order (a $131 million award with a one-year base and four option years) under the 10-year, $12.5 billion IDIQ shared by 23 vendors. That order funds modernized network infrastructure across key Air Force and Space Force facilities worldwide, the first executable slice of a program built to replace decades-old base area networks at every installation.

Federal workforce data shows the hiring push. The Defense Department recorded 1,032 civilian hires last month, with Information Technology Management among the top five occupational groups, a signal the BIM ramp is contributing to DoD-wide gains. The occupational mix reflects BIM's dual scope: the program calls for aircraft maintenance (3A0X1) and cyber systems operations (3D1X1) specialties, blending personnel who can pull fiber through conduit and configure switching gear in the same maintenance window. The Air Force Civilian Service is using direct-hire authorities to fast-track these roles, advertising streamlined applications and on-the-spot offers.

The timeline is compressed by design. The IDIQ's one-year base period means installation crews and network engineers must be in place now, not after a multi-year planning cycle. The July award starts the clock on a hiring surge the FY2025 budget cycle was structured to feed.

What BIM Actually Replaces

BIM — the Air Force's Base Infrastructure Modernization — is the physical and logical replacement of base area networks that have underpinned every installation for decades. Those networks were built for voice switches, static IP ranges, and perimeter firewalls. The BIM program is a comprehensive initiative to create a unified, high-performing and secure network environment across all Air and Space Force bases worldwide.

The service's answer is the Advanced Battle Management System division, a unit within the acquisition enterprise that treats force connectivity and complex information flows as "increasingly determinative of engagement outcomes," Hanscom Air Force Base leadership said. ABMS is the Air Force's contribution to joint all-domain command and control (CJADC2), which the Defense Department intends to realize by "connecting warfighting capabilities through digital networks to enable commanders to effectively communicate and share information."

Government Accountability Office reviews of ABMS and the broader CJADC2 enterprise have consistently noted that service contributions (ABMS for the Air Force, Project Overmatch for the Navy, Project Convergence for the Army) must converge on shared data standards and transport layers. BIM is the substrate that makes that connection possible at the installation level. The DAF Battle Network system-of-systems, overseen by the Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications and Battle Management, is designed to "modernize command, control, and battle management to accelerate and harden decision advantage by making CJADC2 resilient to enemy efforts to deny, degrade, interrupt, or limit this crucial warfighting capability." In practice, that means replacing legacy switches, routers, access points, and the copper and fiber plant beneath the flightline with infrastructure that can segment traffic by classification, prioritize latency-sensitive data, and operate in contested electromagnetic environments.

The contract vehicle funds the labor, the gear, and ongoing operations at every main operating base, forward operating location, and Space Force installation worldwide. Without modernized base transport, sensors on a Space Force satellite cannot hand off a track to an ABMS-enabled gateway, which cannot push a targeting solution to a shooter on the ramp, which cannot confirm battle damage assessment back to the commander — all within the decision cycle the joint force now demands. The network is no longer a utility bill; it is a warfighting system. BIM builds it.

ABMS Pulls the Network Forward

The BIM hiring surge is not occurring in isolation; it is being pulled forward by ABMS's accelerated fielding schedule. The Cloud-Based Command and Control capability is the only ABMS component to have conducted operational testing in FY2025, the DOT&E Annual Report shows. The service has delivered quarterly minimum viable capability releases for CBC2 since June 2023 and completed a formal Operational Assessment in September 2025. That cadence — quarterly drops, assessed in the field — leaves no runway for the traditional sequential approach of finalizing requirements before building the network.

ABMS is explicitly charged with "fielding aerial and terrestrial digital infrastructure, software and applications, and distributed nodes for C2 and battle management for the DAF Battle Network." The terrestrial piece (the base networks) is the foundation those distributed nodes plug into. If the base layer isn't modernized in step, the aerial and space layers have nowhere to land their data.

Contract timelines underscore the urgency. On October 7, 2024, the Department of the Air Force awarded Leidos $303 million to oversee planning, analysis, and operations for the ABMS Digital Infrastructure network, a core component of the DAF Battle Network. On May 7, 2026, the Air Force selected L3Harris Technologies to develop key features of the secure digital infrastructure serving as the ABMS backbone. Two major prime contracts, months apart, both targeting the digital infrastructure backbone: a clear signal the architecture is being built and iterated in real time.

The ABMS division, housed within that office, is "dedicated to establishing a data network that connects Air Force and Space Force." The mechanics and IT specialists hired under BIM are the workforce required to install, configure, and maintain the terrestrial digital infrastructure at every base — the distributed nodes that make the DAF Battle Network physically possible. Network upgrades cannot lag ABMS software drops; they must run concurrent, because every quarterly release assumes a modernized base transport layer is already in place to carry it.