Page 26 - Bugle Autumn 2024

4 RANGER
LTO PJ CONVERGENCE
In February 2024, R Company, 4 RANGER deployed to New Mexico as a Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) to support Project CONVERGENCE 4, a month-long, annual US joint and combined experiment to test the latest military capabilities across NATO, including Special Operations Forces (SOF). Our company and battalion focus this year was to develop the Ranger warfighting role, and CONVERGENCE gave us the chance to test this in an allied context in the deep battlespace.
Our aim was to pass information seamlessly and quickly between NATO partners and reduce the time from a sensor (individual on the ground), through the decision chain, to an effector (those delivering an effect) as much as possible.
This experiment provided a fantastic opportunity to further cement our bond with our US SOF allies, with whom we’ve enjoyed many years of working together. In addition, we had the opportunity to work closely with Australian SOF, a fully relaxed but highly competent group with a genuine ability to get things done, especially finding the best watering holes in El Paso. Our shared JOC provided the central hub for managing combined, joint operations during experimentation.
Pj CONVERGENCE was weeks of hard work and many late nights thinking about how
to integrate comms equipment, to a degree unfamiliar territory for a RANGER team; though not, I suspect, for our talented 255 Signals detachment, with their outstanding subject matter expertise. Throughout the experiment, we were able to test our Ranger
team’s ability to disperse and communicate to conduct synchronised actions in small teams. The vast expense of land also allowed us to really work out the limits of the MRZRs, essentially tactical sand buggies, which really assisted in rapid insertion and extraction
(as well as improving moral whilst zooming around the sand dunes...).
The team were kitted out with all the latest soldier architecture (body armour, helmets, NVGs and weapons) to test against our role and make procurement recommendations for. We almost had too much kit to
review, daunting at first - though the recommendations from CONVERGENCE are now shaping kit procurement for the RANGER regiment until 2030.
The experiment culminated in a combined US, UK and Australian mission, employing effects across Space, Cyber, Land, Air, Sea and the Electromagnetic Spectrum. As the ground
The team were kitted out with all the latest soldier architecture (body armour, helmets,
NVGs and weapons) to
force commander controlling this, it was busy and complex task, but also a unique, rewarding, and eye-opening opportunity that differentiates Ranger team command from platoon command. It was also a headline success for the US and was briefed up as far as their Vice Chief of the Army and our DCGS. This was truly a significant moment that proved our ability to work multilaterally with the US, just as well as work nationally – and we had truly achieved the aim of Project CONVERGENCE – to converge! Home for tea (UK-led of course...) and medals, following some time exploring the expansive list of local recommendations from the Aussies. Job well done!
Capt S T RUSSON, Team Comd, SOTU 10
R Coy, 4 RANGER
SOTU 10 pause in the desert
Scanning routes with L403s
test against our role
Target development with RAF JTACs
26 RIFLES The Bugle