Breakthrough New Attack Technology Inspires New Army Combined Arms Maneuver Tactics

Video Above: Army 2-Star Describes Range Doubling, Course Correcting Artillery

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

When a flying mini-drone can penetrate enemy air space and instantly send target specifics to a larger drone in position to relay data to an attack helicopter, ground-based AI-enabled computer or even land weapons systems, it is time for a new Army Combined Arms Maneuver approach.

Project Convergence “Campaign of Learning”

Such is the thinking of Army weapons developers now surging into a third year of the breakthrough Project Convergence “Campaign of Learning” which, starting in 2020, began to inform and even reshape Army doctrine and concepts of operation, generating new applications of Combined Arms Maneuver.

Senior weapons developers explain Combined Arms almost in terms of a symphony, meaning each element operates in close coordination with the others. In effect, the operational concept is to have artillery, air support, mechanized armor and infantry all conduct missions with the specific intent of performing a specific operational role with the aim of creating an overall “devastating” effect upon an enemy. 

For example, artillery and air support strike from stand-off distances in advance of mechanized units then “closing” with an enemy or, as the Army calls it, “moving to contact.” Each element, to include surveillance drones, attack helicopters, longer-range rockets and artillery, is by design employed to support advancing armored units and infantry. The timing is carefully coordinated in a deliberate way to maximize impact upon an enemy.

What happens, however, if the time it takes to identify a target and choose the optimal weapon to destroy it decreases from 20-minutes to 20-seconds? That is the cutting edge question, as the Army’s Project Convergence succeeded in demonstrating this through a range of replicated combat scenarios at Yuma Proving Grounds, Ariz., 2020.