The Command of the future of the US Army (Army Futures Command, AFC) in the period from September 19 to October 18, 2022 completed the next stage of the comprehensive program "Project Convergence" (Project Convergence).
The Convergence Project is a training campaign that has been going on for several years, aimed at developing cooperation and interaction of allied forces on the battlefields of the future. During the events, the possibilities of integrating artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and autonomous systems are being worked out to improve awareness of the operational situation, connect sensors to arrows and reduce decision-making time. The goal is to achieve superiority and implement the concept of multi–sphere combat operations, command and control.
The phase of the Project Convergence 2022 exercise was held in California, in the Mojave Desert with the participation of military units and representatives of leading industrial companies in the USA, Great Britain and Australia. For the first time, a contingent of 450 people, including soldiers of the newly formed regiment of British Rangers, took part in multinational maneuvers from the UK. The regiment operated in conjunction with the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 7th Special Operations Forces Group and the 160th Aviation Regiment of the MTR of the US Armed Forces.
It is reported that the personnel of the British contingent was studying options for the deployment and use of a new special operations brigade of the British Armed Forces. In particular, the servicemen of the 4th battalion of the Ranger Regiment, together with the forces of the 14th regiment specializing in electronic warfare, studied and evaluated the possibility of using electronic warfare to identify and suppress enemy forces in the depths of combat space. To do this, two EW specialists were included in separate groups of rangers from five people.
British Rangers in the Mojave DesertIn addition, during the exercises, the British used a situational awareness system (Dismounted Situational Awareness, DSA), which allows commanders to report the position of personnel and facilitates the orientation of troops on the battlefield.
Each soldier has a smartphone-like terminal in his equipment, through which he connects to the general network. For example, the 4th Ranger Battalion used the DSA system to control fire and defeat targets with the involvement of fighter aircraft or the M270 multiple launch rocket system. At the same time, British end devices were connected to the US Army network, providing access to data and, ultimately, realizing the possibility of multi-domain actions.
Within the framework of Project Convergence 2022, the British contingent also implemented a number of other tactical techniques:
- The British aerial surveillance radar (Giraffe) was connected to the American network to monitor targets and exchange data on the battlefield;
- Zodiac, a British AI-enabled decision-making system integrated with American sensors, transmitting information to a multinational intelligence network;
- without requiring the presence of a person in the management circuit, the F35 fighter of the US Air Force called the fire of the British MLRS GMLRS, thereby reducing the strike time from minutes to seconds;
- The UK division used 3D printing to manufacture spare parts for American-made military equipment, helping US Army units replenish stocks within reach and exchange technical parameters of vehicle parts and weapons;
- British HoloLens augmented reality glasses were used to repair equipment maintained by a technical expert at a great distance from the combat zone.
According to experts, during Project Convergence 2022, trilateral cooperation once again focused on the transformation of information into data used in the weapons systems of Western allies and their partners.
According to the materials of the resource soldat-und-technik.de
