The war in Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan provides an opportunity to see what a future conflict might look like, retired Lieutenant General Thomas Sper, who currently heads the National Defense Center of the American strategic research institute Heritage Foundation, writes in Breaking Defense.
According to the publication, the reason for Baku's victory in this conflict was the use of high-tech weapons by the Azerbaijani side in combination with systems that allow them to quickly make a decision to strike. “Armed drones have been particularly effective in destroying dozens of armored platforms, especially in the case of Armenia, highlighting the extreme lethality and speed of modern warfare, and the need to eliminate delays [in response] from killing chains,” Shper writes.
Nonetheless, the retired lieutenant general believes the recent tests carried out as part of the Convergence project, while recognized as a great success, should not mislead the US military. “History has proven that the more time, money, participants and, in particular, attention is paid to the experiment, the more the temptation to use the opportunity to learn for less noble purposes,” notes the director of the Center for National Defense.
In September, Breaking Defense wrote that the use of satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during Convergence has drastically reduced the time it takes to deploy artillery systems.
In the same month, Defense One noted that during the Convergence exercise at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, the US Army used unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), supercannons, ground robots and satellites “to extensively test their future war plans.” According to the publication, during the event, several enemy targets were destroyed, imitating, in particular, the Russian Pantsir anti-aircraft missile-gun system (ZRPK).
At the same time, according to Breaking Defense, during the Convergence demonstration of the Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS), an adapted M109 Paladin 155mm howitzer shot down a BQM-167 Skeeter air target imitating a Russian cruise missile. According to the American publication, the corresponding exercise of the US Air Force (Air Force) took place on September 3 at the White Sands missile range in New Mexico. Thus, the United States conducted exercises simulating a military conflict with Russia.
