Future war: British soldiers in US train with machine gun robots and UAVs

Hundreds of British soldiers have taken part in a warfighting experiment in California alongside allies from six other countries to test their use of cutting-edge technologies - including an autonomous vehicle with a mounted machine gun.

The Army's Experimental and Trials Group is deploying a Robotics and Autonomous Systems enhanced Battlegroup, including engineers, artillery, electronic warfare assets and unmanned aerial systems.

Hosted by the US Army and known as Project Convergence Capstone 4 (PC-C4), the exercise saw 600 troops from the UK take part in training which aims to define how the US and its international partners will fight in a multi-domain battlespace.

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"The entire joint force, and with our UK and Australian teammates and allies, were able to effectively move data for the first time in an operational scenario at a magnitude never seen before," said the deputy commander of US Army Futures Command, Lieutenant General Ross Coffman.

"This is about synchronising and sharing the data across the joint forces," he added.

"We want to make contact with machines before we make contact with humans.

"When our services come together, we form a fist that packs a powerful punch."

The exercise is designed to help the British Army become more effective on the battlefield by reducing reaction times and complications in the "sensor-decider-effector-sustainer" kill chain.

PC-C4 brings multinational forces together to establish how to combine situational awareness and command and control.

The first phase took place at Camp Pendleton in California, and the second phase is currently taking place at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert.

The HQ commander of 1st Deep Reconnaissance Strike Brigade Combat Team, Brigadier Neil Budd, said: "PC-C4 is enabling us to develop and test new capabilities, taking advantage of new technologies and concepts that will ensure we are more lethal and net contributors to a multinational fight. It is about winning.

"PC-C4 is allowing us to adapt in step with the emerging threat.

"We are exploiting in-service equipment to spirally develop and accelerate on to emerging technology while realising the full potential of the new Land Operating Concept by operationalising its component parts, such as recce-strike."