On the west Coast of the United States, about an hour and a half south of Los Angeles, the future of warfare is being designed.
It happens in a time where war is breaking out once more in multiple parts of the world, with the war in Ukraine battering on past the two-year mark, and the Cold War era alliance NATO is once again having to act as concrete wall against Russia.
In the Middle East, a coalition of countries, including New Zealand, are part of a US-led operation to fight against the Houthi, an Iran-backed organisation which is trying to violently disrupt one of the world’s most important trade routes through the Red Sea.
In a tent deep inside Camp Pendleton, California, 1News was among a group of journalists invited to see Project Convergence Capstone 4. It's a well branded and slick US Army jargon name that describes the goal of the world’s most powerful military – to be faster. Better. More effective. Use its allies more efficiently. And ultimately maintain its dominance.
Four thousand people were there trying to achieve that objective: military, civilians, foreign military personnel – even a three-star general who is very senior in the US Space Force.
That’s right – a space army.
And their plans have New Zealand, a part of the Five Eyes alliance, at the heart of it.
"If deterrence fails and an adversary initiates contact we will stand together shoulder to shoulder with all our allies, partners and friends. Of them, New Zealand is the most valued," US Army Futures Command's Lieutenant General Ross Coffman told 1News at a press conference at Camp Pendleton’s headquarters.
These exercises are effectively a giant sandpit where different parts of the military apparatus can build new things, play with new technology, then try it out against 'enemies' – in real life (or ‘constructed’, as they describe it), or simulated environments.
1News filmed a group of marines as they sprinted past, diving under a makeshift bunker as surveillance drones were being deployed.
A group of New Zealand Defence Force soldiers were also taking part. The NZDF is working to modernise, particularly in areas such as communication.
It’s also in a constant battle to recover from Covid-19 pandemic-related attrition, where the NZDF lost substantial experience and skills.
Since then, the world had also gotten far more volatile.
"The Americans devote a huge amount of resources at this activity. There's a level of research and development behind it that we just can't replicate," NZDF chief of army Major General John Boswell said.
He spoke to 1News from a demonstration area at the camp where tech from new, small smart drones to amphibious vehicles were on display.
"One of the key outputs required of the NZ Defence Force is to be available to deploy – should our government choose to do so in our nation's best interest – anywhere in the world," he said.
"This is part of that."
There is still, of course, a debate to be had over the role New Zealand should play in global security.
It is, however, a debate New Zealand is increasingly finding difficult to avoid.
SHARE ME