US Army Tests 100 New Technologies at Project Convergence

The United States Army conducted the Project Convergence Capstone exercise at Fort Irwin, California, to evaluate experimental weapons and command-and-control systems. Approximately 10,000 multinational troops tested roughly 100 new technologies, including sensors, drones, and electronic warfare capabilities, against a simulated near-peer adversary.

Moving away from laboratory-style testing, this iteration integrated experimentation directly into combat training to assess operational concepts and hardware durability, specifically focusing on battery life and overheating in the Mojave Desert. British soldiers also participated, separating formal acquisition trials from experiments focused on specific use cases for uncrewed systems.

The dual mandate of training and testing caused some operational friction. Certain soldiers limited the use of prototypes to prevent equipment damage or prioritized training repetitions over pushing the systems to their absolute limits.