NZDF says ‘kill the web’ is not a term used for exercises

The U.S. Armed Forces say they are not using the term “kill web” to refer to the high-tech military exercises they have been participating in in the United States, but are preparing to be better prepared for combat on “future battlefields.”

Learning from the experimentation activities carried out by a larger military was a “cost-effective way to understand new methods and technologies”, he told RNZ.

The Pentagon’s new strategies include greater involvement of allies in high-tech military experiments.

US warlords say they are focusing on integrating allied systems with AI-enhanced weapons to create faster “kill chains” and develop a “kill network.”

They referred to the fact that China has a “deadly network” of surveillance satellites over the Indo-Pacific, and particularly the Western Pacific, that can target any U.S. asset it chooses.

The NZDF has twice participated in the Project Convergence exercise – most recently in March in California with four other nations and the United States – and has so far been an observer in a series of Global Information Domination Experiments (GIDE), she said.

At Convergence, “the primary goal is to develop connectivity so that any sensor can provide threat intelligence that feeds into a command center that can then task the ‘best shooter’ to target the threat,” the U.S. National Defense Industrial Association said.

NZDF Colonel Pat Beath said the government’s defence policy and strategy called for it to be “better prepared for combat operations” in a deteriorating global and regional security situation.

“NZDF does not use the term ‘kill web’,” Beath told RNZ in a statement on Friday.

“Our main objective at GIDE remains to guarantee our interoperability with our security partners.”

He called Project Convergence a “continuous multinational military experimentation activity.”

War gaming experiments have included kamikaze drones targeted by AI sensors on fighter jets and a constellation of satellites.

“This year we increased the threat envelope to ten times what we did last time,” one U.S. commander said.

“With the entire joint force and our British and Australian teammates and allies, we are able to effectively move data for the first time in an Indo-Pacific scenario at a scale never seen before.”

Beath said the NZDF was working closely with Australia to confirm it could be present as part of a coalition force on the “battlefields of the future”.

The goal was to be interoperable with allies, to be a credible security partner and to support a rules-based international system if the government requested it, he said.