Gen. James J. Mingus, U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff, greets Maj. Jeff Benton, a plans officer assigned with the XVIII Airborne Corps, during a senior leader engagement at Army Futures Command's Project Convergence - Capstone 4 being held at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb. 28, 2024. Mingus met with XVIII Airborne Corps Soldiers to discuss their experimentation efforts as part of PC-C4.

PC-C4 is the largest, two-phase experiment from February 23 through March 20 to assess how technology can enhance cross-domain military operations and unified strategic approaches involving partners from various nations and joint services.

Gen. James J. Mingus, U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff, directs a group's attention to a key discussion during a key leader engagement during Project Convergence - Capstone 4 at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb. 28, 2024. Mingus met with XVIII Airborne Corps Soldiers to discuss their experimentation efforts as part of PC-C4.

During Project Convergence, Soldiers from the XVIII Airborne Corps have worked alongside Sailors, Marines and other members of the Joint and Multinational Force to determine how warfighting communications, operations and maneuver would occur in the Future Operational Environment.

Gen. James J. Mingus, U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff, receives a brief from members assigned to the XVIII Airborne Corps during Project Convergence - Capstone 4 at Camp Pendleton, Calif. Feb. 28, 2024. Mingus met with XVIII Airborne Corps Soldiers to discuss the XVIII Airborne Corps experimentation efforts as part of PC-C4 and recognized some of the Soldiers for their tireless efforts during the expermentation.

As we transform for the Army of 2040, PC-C4 is designing adaptable command and control warfighting systems capable of rapid updates to improve functionality, capability and capacity that will enable our leaders and warfighters to innovate in response to evolving operations.

Gen. James J. Mingus, U.S Army Vice Chief of Staff, listens to a brief from Sgt. Maj. Mathew Gonzalez, assigned to the XVIII Airborne Corps, during Project Convergence - Capstone 4 at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb. 28, 2024. Mingus met with XVIII Airborne Corps Soldiers to discuss their experimentation efforts as part of PC-C4.

Gen. James J. Mingus, U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff, presents a coin of excellence to Spc. Beau A. Kaminski, an intelligence analyst assigned to the XVIII Airborne Corps, for his work during Project Convergence - Capstone 4 at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb. 28, 2024. Mingus met with XVIII Airborne Corps Soldiers to discuss the XVIII Airborne Corps experimentation efforts during PC-C4.

The XVIII Airborne Corps is just one of many commands from across the Department of Defense and allied nations taking part in this premiere Joint and Multinational Force experiment to determine how warfighting communications, operations and maneuver would occur in the Future Operational Environment.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – U.S. Army's Vice Chief of Staff Gen. James Mingus met with military senior leaders recently at Camp Pendleton, Calif., as part of Project Convergence-Capstone 4, a two-phase, joint and multinational experiment hosted by the U.S. Army. Spanning across the sea, land, air, space and cyberspace domains, PC-C4 identifies and refines innovative concepts and technologies necessary for future war-winning readiness.

Joint service members and multinational allies and partners conducted experiments for 16 months at various sites in Pacific and European theaters in preparation for PC-C4. During his visit, Mingus gathered comprehensive insights into the Joint and Multinational tactical operation centers of PC-C4.

"It brings us all together to make sure that those linkages with our partners are there," Mingus said. "Integrating and coming up with boxes to talk to boxes is a good first step. The next natural evolution out of this is convergence and commonality."

To find this commonality, Mingus met with senior leaders who represent more than 4,000 joint service members and militaries from the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, France and Japan.

They discussed critical topics, including cross-service sensor netting, countering cruise and ballistic missiles, enhancing fire integration and the Multi-Domain Task Force — the Army's newest formation.

"We need to start to accelerate convergence, common platforms, common messaging, common standards, [and] convergence of data," Mingus said. "That's got to be the next evolution out of this. We have to come up with commonality and convergence, starting with our data and how we move the data."

During this year's Project Convergence, Mingus also observed various state-of-the-art technologies during phase 1, which will provide the necessary data to enact future changes in modern warfare tactics and capabilities. These cutting-edge pieces of equipment included the Enhanced Small Unit Systems, Family of Counter Unmanned Systems Sensor Integration Modules and the Craitor Intrepid 3D Printer.

"We don't know, in the future, what service is actually going to find the target," Mingus said. "Who is going to then figure out is that something we want to target, and then, who's going to kill it? And in the future battlefield, the Air Force may find something, the Navy may do the targeting solution, and then, the Army may be the ones that actually deliver the munition."

PC-C4 leaders highlighted its pivotal role in shaping the integration of transformative capabilities and formations. This Army-hosted experiment will serve as a dynamic platform for exploring emerging concepts in a multi-domain environment across various echelons, which fosters collaboration with Joint components and Multinational allies and partners.

"Here's my big takeaway: We've been doing these Project Convergence [experiments] now for several years," Mingus said. "Every year, they get a little better; this year is no exception. I think what they're able to accomplish, the number of people they brought together, both from a Joint and a coalition standpoint, [and] the problems they're solving are pretty remarkable."