Project Convergence: The Future War has Begun
Project Convergence is the US Army's flagship initiative for the development of integrated and digitised military capabilities, aimed at unifying sensors, effectors and commands through a single real-time operational network. Launched in 2020, the project aims to radically transform land warfare by harnessing artificial intelligence, advanced communications networks and interagency collaboration. Within this programme, the term Capstone indicates a final, large-scale exercise in which all the skills tested in the previous months are put to the test.
The project “Project Convergence - Capstone 5" recently staged a high-tech warfare scenario involving all US armed forces - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Space Force - in a joint operation to 'recapture' the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, from a simulated enemy force. The exercise, which took place between March and April 2025, marked a decisive moment in the development of multi-domain operations, geared towards a fully interconnected model of warfare.
The operation saw an unprecedented integration of forces and technologies. Naval drones attacked enemy ships off San Diego, while piloted and unmanned aircraft struck enemy air defences. US satellites jammed enemy communications with electromagnetic attacks, while long-range missiles prepared the ground for infiltration via helicopters and ground vehicles, under cover of attack helicopters. Once the offensive was over, the forces had to move quickly to the defence of the newly conquered territory.
According to Lieutenant General David Hodne, Deputy Commander of Army Futures Command, this iteration of Project Convergence represented a decisive step forward. "For the first time, we integrated everything into one coherent scenario, deploying military capabilities from the Fort Irwin area to Pendleton, along the entire Californian coastline,' he said. The objective was to test the full interoperability between US and allied land, air, naval and space forces in a realistic war scenario.
The Network Challenge: Unifying Data, Commands and Decisions
One of the main obstacles to future warfare is not the enemy, but the interconnection of systems. As Major General Patrick Ellis, head of the Command and Control Cross-Functional Team, explained, "We collect a lot of data, but it's often not in the right place or in the right format." The main problem is that the various 'boxes' - the hardware and software systems - communicate with each other inefficiently, requiring constant manual steps to transform and re-enter data.
Capstone 5 was a testbed for a new type of software, developed in collaboration with the defence industry, which aims to connect all sensors, commands and decision centres in a single visual interface accessible in real time from every command centre. In practice, the exercise sought to create a kind of 'distributed digital brain', where each command could see the same up-to-date image of the battlefield and make consistent decisions.
This approach was further tested in a second joint mission in the Indo-Pacific, involving bases in Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, French Polynesia and Australia. The data collected was shared not only between US forces but also with British, French and Japanese partners, demonstrating the system's potential for international interoperability.
Lieutenant General J.B. Vowell, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Pacific, commented: "PC-C5 has confirmed to us that we are on the right track. Now we just need to accelerate." The speed of development and adaptation is, in fact, the real critical factor in an age when information superiority is worth more than the number of men or vehicles.
Integrated Fire and Robotics: The Next Frontiers of Warfare
Project Convergence highlighted the growing need to combine offensive and defensive capabilities in unified systems. At present, the army has separate assets for the two functions: offensive systems such as HIMARS to hit strategic targets and defensive systems such as Patriot missiles to shoot down air threats. But in a dynamic scenario, where a unit must conquer, maintain and defend an area, an integrated system is required.
"It won't happen this year," admitted Vowell, "but we will continue to experiment, test and innovate. We will get there." Within this framework, robotic vehicles are playing an increasingly central role. At Fort Irwin, ground combat robots led the assault once the enemy defences were down. Although the US Army does not yet have these vehicles on a large scale, they are now a growing priority in technological development.
Lieutenant General Hodne emphasised: "Every time we find new uses for robots. It is not a change of course, but an expansion of possibilities." The next step will be to identify which robots offer the best operational and financial return for the army. To this end, the Transformation-in-Contact units will work closely with the defence industry to prototype and test new solutions.
The appointment is already set: Project Convergence - Capstone 6 will take place in August 2025. It will be an opportunity to see if the Army has managed to bridge the gap between digital aspirations and operational capabilities in the field.
Published by Condoralex
Born Alessandro Generotti, C.le Maj. Parachutist on leave. Military Parachutist Patent no. 192806. 186th RGT Par. Folgore/5th BTG. Par. El Alamein/XIII Cp. Par. Condor.
Founder and administrator of the website BRIGATAFOLGORE.NET. Blogger and computer scientist by profession.
