US Army's Project Convergence drill falls short on AI battlefield tech
The U.S. Army's Project Convergence exercise in July brought roughly 9,700 soldiers to Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert for a 10-day, round-the-clock simulated battle that briefing materials billed as a look at an "AI-enabled battlefield." Reporting from the event describes Anduril drones forced to land by heat near 110°F, a Theiss drone that took about 10 minutes to launch, newly purchased communications gear that fell short, and defects in augmented-reality headsets; officials said much of the contracted technology remains experimental. The piece also notes Defense Secretary Hegseth's push to turn the Army into an AI-driven force with drones and 3D printing, and that the AI-assisted Next-Generation Command and Control System is budgeted at $4 billion this year.
It offers a rare on-the-ground view of how far AI and autonomous systems still are from reliable battlefield use, even as the Pentagon spends heavily on them.