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The work done at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) in recent years will influence modernization and Army doctrine for years to come.
From Project Convergence 2020 and 2021, to the project Convergence Technology Gateway of 2022 and the Experimental Demonstration Gateway Event (EDGE) that recently concluded, YPG has been at the forefront of Army transformation efforts.
Army senior leaders say the nation is at an inflection point and that successful deterrence against near-peer adversaries with the ability to conduct large-scale combat operations will require long-range precision fires, autonomous capability, and leveraging of other new technologies across all of the Department of Defense’s military branches.
The PC 20 demonstrations at YPG utilized cutting-edge equipment from five of the Army Futures Command’s (AFC) cross-functional teams (CFTs), which were created to each focus on an Army transformation priority. The capstone PC capabilities demonstrations took many months of pre-planning and six weeks of active set-up, testing, and data collection, during which time in excess of 900 personnel from all across the Army came at some point to YPG. The demonstration was particularly noted for using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in several ways: Ground robots paired with UAS digitally mapped and transmitted images of the terrain, AI was used for target recognition and to autonomously conduct ground intelligence and deploy sensors, and machine learning trained algorithms on identification of various types of targets. Across the six weeks on Yuma’s ranges, testers were able to make changes and improvements to computer algorithms in real time, another example of the proving ground’s status as a natural environment laboratory.
“This is a major step forward in transforming the United States Army for the next 40 years,” said Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville at a media roundtable held here on September 23, 2020. “We’ll be working with our joint partners and coalition partners to make this all happen. This is a significant event, and I’m real proud of the Yuma team that supported all those who came in to make this happen.”
PC 21 was substantially more ambitious. With between 1,500 and 2,000 additional personnel on the ground at any given time throughout the six weeks of experimentation, PC 21 saw a slew of firsts. For the first time ever, each branch of United States Armed Forces tested their sensor-to-sensor capabilities in tandem, and more than a few of the equipment tests associated with the multiple cross-functional teams (CFTs) that participated in PC were groundbreaking in their own right. A new Gatling-style 20mm machine gun that could serve as rotary cannon on the Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) was integrated into a UH-60 Blackhawk serving as a surrogate and fired in flight for the first time here. Additionally, aviation testers demonstrated flying a legacy UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter completely autonomously. Again, senior leaders from the highest levels of the Department of the Army praised the YPG workforce.
“They have been tremendous in enabling us to do all of the tests that we had,” McConville said at a media roundtable here on November 9, 2021. “This is a superb workforce that is very, very professional. In the area, they have gone out of their way to support this rather significant operation, and I think it is reasons like that that people want to come to Yuma.”
Project Convergence 22 was interested primarily in utilizing the successful experiments of Project Convergence 20 and 21 in an operational environment with international partners. YPG’s infrastructure is intended to support developmental testing of equipment, thus, perfectly suited for Project Convergence Technology Gateway 2022’s ambitions while the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin and the Marine Corps’ Camp Pendleton hosted the operational aspects of that year’s campaign of learning. During these demonstrations, a fully autonomous UH-60 dubbed Alias engaged in complex simulated missions across YPG’s vast ranges without a safety pilot onboard, utilizing low level maneuvers that traditional pilots use in combat areas. The size of the payloads and complexity of the missions were both unprecedented for a fully autonomous UH-60.
Earlier this year, the Experimental Demonstration Gateway Event (EDGE) 23 conducted intense natural environment experimentation here with over 80 new technologies, blending developmental and operational testing for what may be key elements of the future force. Unmanned aircraft, launched effects, and all manner of ancillary technologies to expand communications capabilities and Soldier survivability were all being tested simultaneously here during the demonstration, which included participation from 32 inter-service organizations, 10 international partners, and multiple private industry companies. The top leadership of AFC’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) CFT were pleased with the support they received by upwards of 300 range personnel from YPG.
“YPG is a literal crown jewel that can replicate a battlefield very, very well,” said Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen, FVL CFT Director, in remarks at a media roundtable with multiple national and international media representatives held at YPG on May 18, 2023. “The land, air, and spectrum that the facility offers is undeniably indispensable to our success. The team’s professionalism is outstanding, and we will be back to Yuma.”
| Date Taken: | 06.28.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.28.2023 09:34 |
| Story ID: | 448137 |
| Location: | YUMA PROVING GROUND, ARIZONA, US |
| Web Views: | 237 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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