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1 1 (June 2, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govehiw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service Informing the legislative debate since 1914 The Army's Project Convergence 0 Updated June 2, 2022 What Is the Army's Project Convergence? Project Convergence is what the Army calls a campaign of learning, designed to further integrate the Army into the Joint Force. It is how the Army intends to play a role in Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2), the Department of Defense's (DOD's) plan to connect sensors and weapon systems from all the military services-Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force-as well as Special Operations Forces (SOF), into a single network which, theoretically, could prove faster and more effective in responding to threats from peer competitors. Designed around five core elements-soldiers, weapons systems, command and control, information, and terrain- Army Futures Command (AFC) plans to run Project Convergence on an annual basis. The Army intends to conduct experiments with technology, equipment, and solicit soldier feedback throughout the year, culminating in an annual exercise or demonstration. In basic terms, the Army reportedly wants to take the service's big ideas for future warfare and test them in the real world. The Army wants to figure out what works and what needs fixing-and figure that out as early as possible, when it's much cheaper to make changes. Project Convergence 2020 (PC2O) PC20 took place at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona between August 1 th and September 1s 2020 and involved about 500 personnel. PC20 was intended to provide information to support decisions to: Change how the Army fights by shaping how it organizes for combat; Highlight opportunities to optimize operational processes; Evolve how the Army visualizes, describes, decides, and acts on enemy threats; and Build soldier and leader trust in emergent technologies. PC20 concentrated on what the Army calls the close fight by integrating new enabling technologies at the lowest operational level so tactical networks could facilitate faster decisions. At the unit level, PC20 focused on Brigade Combat Teams (BCT), Combat Aviation Brigades (CAB), and Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced (ESB-E). At the system level, PC20 involved the Army's MQ 1C Grey Eagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the Air Launched Effects (ALE)-a multi-purpose helicopter- launched system-and the tactical network-command, control, communications, intelligence, and computer systems used by the Army in combat. Figure I. Representative Exercise Operational Scenario Pse1Pe'netr I A Source: From Army Briefing provided to CRS dated September 10, 2020. One of PC20's experiments reportedly included using low- earth orbit satellites and Grey Eagle UAVs to perform sensing for air targets and a ground system to detect a ground target. Data from the two systems was passed back to an organization at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, where the target was processed. The data was then passed back to Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, to a system to engage the target-either a self- propelled artillery system such as the Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) system currently under development, a Grey Eagle, or another ground platform. This entire sequence was supposedly accomplished within 20 seconds. What Is Anti-Access/ Area Denial (A2/AD)? Anti-Access is defined as any action, activity, or capability, usually long-range, designed to prevent an advancing military force from entering an operational area. Area Denial is defined as action, activity, or capability, usually short-range, designed to limit an adversarial force's freedom of action within an operational area. In terms of weapon systems, threat A2/AD defenses are envisioned of being composed of layered and integrated long-range precision-strike systems, littoral anti-ship capabilities, air defenses, and long-range artillery and rocket systems. Project Convergence 202 an d 2022 (PC2I and PC22) Project Convergence 2021 (PC21) While other supporting exercises and experiments were conducted in 2021, PC21's main series of live-fire events took place October 12-November 10, 2021, at a number of installations located in the United States. PC 21 involved approximately 7,000 personnel, including 900 data ttps:/,crsr I

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