{"id":68285,"date":"2024-03-25T14:35:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T14:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/03\/25\/the-robots-are-coming-us-army-experiments-with-human-machine-warfare\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:57:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:57:01","slug":"the-robots-are-coming-us-army-experiments-with-human-machine-warfare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/unmanned\/2024\/03\/25\/the-robots-are-coming-us-army-experiments-with-human-machine-warfare\/","title":{"rendered":"The robots are coming: US Army experiments with human-machine warfare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FORT IRWIN, Calif. \u2014 Looking like a toy helicopter, a small black drone rose up over a cluster of adobe buildings in a quiet desert village, emitting a faint buzz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drone, an Anduril Industries\u2019 Ghost-X, paused and then rose higher, disappearing into the clouds. Another followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seemingly small and unthreatening, the drones were serving as the eyes of an infantry company concealed by the surrounding mountains and readying to reclaim a village held by the enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And those drones were not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All at once, an overwhelming group of air- and ground-based machine fighters burst onto the scene. An \u201coctocopter\u201d lumbered through the sky with precision munitions and other robots attached to its belly, dropping three 60mm mortar rounds on a roof and other small, hand-held, cylindrical \u201cthrowbots\u201d on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Staff Sgt. Daniel Turnley-Butts tosses a Throwbot during a demonstration Aug. 5, 2020, at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (Samuel King Jr.\/US. Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Robotic combat vehicles rolled into view, armed with .50-caliber and M240 machine guns, firing on enemy positions and providing cover for troops maneuvering into the village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, a four-legged dog robot stepped out from a thick cloud of smoke, giving the soldiers monitoring from afar another view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scene was the culmination of a U.S. Army effort to understand how it can use humans and machines together on the battlefield. Service leaders descended on Fort Irwin, California \u2014 home to the National Training Center \u2014 in March for a large exercise known as Project Convergence<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The demonstration was a glimpse of the Army\u2019s future, according to top officials. Gen. James Rainey, who leads Army Futures Command, expects the service\u2019s future force to be so integrated with machines<\/a> that humans will face a much lower risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will never again trade blood for first contact,\u201d he frequently says, promising to deploy robots instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But getting these formations right won\u2019t be easy, leaders acknowledge. For human-machine integration to work, a functional and user-friendly network must underpin it, it requires protection from cyberattacks, and the systems must have the right amount of autonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Soldiers take part in a human-machine integration demonstration at Fort Irwin, California, March 2024. (Spc. Samarion Hicks\/U.S. Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Leaders also say it\u2019s not technology that will prove the most difficult factor, but rather breaking from antiquated acquisition processes that prevent rapid purchases and slow down deliveries to soldiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe pace of the threat and the pace of technology \u2014 the evolution is much faster, and there\u2019s no way that we\u2019re going to succeed if we continue to acquire technology or even choose to develop\u201d it at the usual pace, Joseph Welch, the Army\u2019s C5ISR Center director, said at the March event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forward progress<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The Project Convergence exercise followed months of effort focused on integrating humans and machines into service formations. It was a chance to see what works and what doesn\u2019t as the Army prepares for a fight against adversaries with advanced capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service insists it\u2019s now ready to move forward with human-machine integrated formations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fiscal 2025 budget request marks the first time the Army has included funding for these formations, also called H-MIF. It\u2019s seeking $33 million for the first step, which provides an initial human-machine integration capability to infantry and armor formations. The Army was experimenting with both at Project Convergence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service wants machines in these new formations to \u201coffload risk\u201d and provide soldiers with \u201cadditional information for decision making,\u201d according to the service\u2019s budget documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army\u2019s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office is spearheading the effort for Futures Command. The office is creating prototypes using existing air and ground robotic programs and payloads while incorporating common architecture, communications and network capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FY25 funding, the Army has said, will fund the movement of concepts through prototyping as well as enable soldiers to evaluate them in exercises and experiments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A drone deploys munitions during experimentation at Project Convergence in Fort Irwin, Calif., on March 18, 2024. The drone employs interchangeable anti-personnel and anti-armor warheads at multiple targets. (Sgt. Brahim Douglas\/U.S. Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the Project Convergence event, the Army flooded the battlefield with robots, sensors and other machines meant to help soldiers in complex flights. The experiment included air and ground robots with reconfigurable payloads, tethered drones, counter-drone systems, and a ventriloquist decoy emitter that emulates radio frequency traffic to confuse the enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service used more than 240 pieces of technology, including capabilities from allied militaries in the U.K., Canada, Australia, France and Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pressure to transform<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The decision to rely more on robots isn\u2019t a choice, according to Alexander Miller, who is now serving as chief technology officer to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George and Miller both watched the experiment in March; Miller carried a cellphone with an app demonstrating the Army\u2019s new Tactical Assault Kit. The app superimposes the location of soldiers and robots as well as enemy positions in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service knows it has to do this, or \u201cwe will fall radically behind,\u201d Miller said of human-machine integration. \u201cThere are bad people who are willing to use robotics, and if we don\u2019t figure it out we will be behind the curve, we will put men and women in harm\u2019s way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Integrating robots into formations is also accelerating because \u201cthere has been a cultural shift,\u201d Miller said. \u201cIt\u2019s been 12-18 months where we have stopped treating robots as a one-for-one augmentation for soldiers and started saying: \u2018What are the dull, dirty, dangerous, disruptive things that robots can really do that are not just combat power? How do we augment them without taking a single rifleman off or multiple riflemen off the line to control a robot?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A soldier at Project Convergence demonstrates the use of an augmented reality headset to identify a threat and call for fires. (Jen Judson\/Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the March experiment, for instance, the Army sent a ground robot with a mine-clearing line charge to deploy along enemy lines. As it fights the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian military is using these to disarm enemy minefields and trenches, but transporting them in crewed vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the experiment, the robot shot the line charge out of a small launcher. The line didn\u2019t explode as intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army leaders said glitches are common and making this work would provide a much safer way for soldiers to clear mine fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also enabling new models for human-machine integration is the progress of commercial technology, according to Welch. \u201cThat has accelerated tremendously across many different technical domains,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artificial intelligence is getting smarter; sensors are getting smaller, lighter and more versatile; connectivity solutions are more abundant; and air-, ground- and space-based capabilities are easier to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obstacles ahead<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Army leaders acknowledge there is plenty of work ahead to integrate robots and soldiers on the battlefield. The experiment itself illustrated \u201cjust how complicated it\u2019s going to be … where we really proliferate lower-cost, cheaper options and we clutter the environment intentionally,\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point during Project Convergence, the Army jammed itself, causing a friendly drone swarm to fall out of the sky. The service fixed the problem by turning on a capability allowing smart routing management for its Wi-Fi, Miller said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond technical challenges, George said, the Army must convince Congress to alter the procurement process so the service can acquire or adapt capabilities within broader funding lines. The goal, he explained, is to be more responsive to what is working for soldiers and to be able to rapidly buy small amounts of that equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he\u2019s working with Congress \u201cso that we can move money a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want and need the oversight, [but] it\u2019s a matter of how we go back to them and tell them, \u2018Here\u2019s what we\u2019re going to buy inside that funding line, and here\u2019s how we\u2019re doing it,\u2019 and get feedback,\u201d George added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, one focus is on marking sure the Army can change systems without needing reprogramming authorization or new funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technical and operational ways the Army is going to employ human-machine integrated formations today \u201cdoesn\u2019t mean that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to employ it two years from now,\u201d said Mark Kitz, the service\u2019s program executive officer for command, control, communications-tactical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t historically treat robotics as a software program. It\u2019s really a software program,\u201d Kitz explained. \u201cSo how do we use <\/b>some of our unique acquisition authorities then to build that flexibility upfront?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
U.S. wargames show that protecting domestic U.S. bases from drone threats can\u2019t be just the military\u2019s job. Here, UAS prepare to take flight at Fort Irwin, California, March 2024. (Sgt. Gianna Chiavarone\/U.S. Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Miller said another potential obstacle is ensuring sufficient U.S. production of components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to have components that are approved and valid and we aren\u2019t scared to employ because they were made by an adversary,\u201d he said. Welch noted the Army is working with U.S. government labs to address some of the component concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service is also working internally to revamp its approach to finding capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a much tighter coupling … not only externally with our industry partners and other key stakeholders, whether it be over on [Capitol] Hill or up in [the Office of the Secretary of Defense], but also internally,\u201d said Lt. Gen. John Morrison, the Army\u2019s deputy chief of staff in charge of command, control, communications, cyber operations and networks. \u201cWe\u2019ve got requirements with acquisition, with testers, and they\u2019re all centered around soldiers, getting that direct feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin Jensen<\/a>, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank where he focuses on wargaming, said he\u2019s \u201coptimistic\u201d about human-machine integration<\/a> but that it may take longer than the service expects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost people overestimate the speed at which you can develop new concepts of employment around even proven engineering,\u201d he said. \u201cIt often takes years outside of a major war to build entirely new formations and structures.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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