Large Army contingent converge on US for drone tests

A hostile desert setting may seem an unusual place to test fragile, high-tech military prototypes, but there may be no better proving ground for future fighting concepts that may one day be on the battlefield.

CAPTION: An Australian Army soldier from the 1st Armoured Regiment with an uncrewed ground vehicle equipped with a prototype communications system and experimental drone launcher during Project Convergence Capstone 5 at Fort Irwin, California. Story by Major Peter Nugent. Photo by Corporal Nakia Chapman.

Some of the most innovative military minds from around the world gathered at the United States Army National Training Centre, Fort Irwin, California, last month for Project Convergence Capstone 5 (PCC5).

US, British, New Zealand, Canadian, French and about 140 Australian personnel gathered at PCC5 for an ‘experimental’ event to integrate emerging technologies into a joint multinational force conducting multi-domain operations.

Head of the UK experimentation and trials group Colonel Toby Till said it was an opportunity to share with key allies and partners on Project Convergence the kind of capabilities we’re employing and showing how we would employ them.

“Allies have always fought together and we’ve got to be able to share data,” Colonel Till said.

“You need to be able to pass that data and get those fire missions and targeting effects across.”

Major Ben Peterson, from Australia’s 1st Armoured Regiment, said members of A Squadron were enjoying working alongside their British counterparts from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Yorkshire Regiment.

“Everyone’s getting along very well, and we’re collecting a lot of information on how different countries are doing different things at the same time,” Major Peterson said.

“‘Hyper-teaming’ is one of the key concepts that we are experimenting with on PCC5.

“We’re getting one soldier to do something that previously took many soldiers.

“For example, a single controller using multiple uncrewed ground and aerial systems at once.

“As far as I know, this hasn’t been done by our Army before.”

The Australian contingent included personnel from across Army, including artillery, signals, intelligence, infantry, cavalry, logistics and special operations.

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