The first battle was a real combat engagement.
Throughout the history of weapons development, such cases are certainly not non-existent, and one could say they are not even rare, but they have become less common as we move into modern times. All countries and individuals try to avoid such situations as much as possible.
The reason is simple: the more modern the era, the more complex the weapon systems become, and they tend to develop towards integrated systems. A lot of tuning and testing is required from theory to practice before a weapon can be deployed on the battlefield. It's important to resolve various potential problems at an early stage, achieve basic operational safety, and establish a maintenance and support system to form a rudimentary combat capability. Only then can one consider deploying it in actual combat to test the weapon's value, gradually explore an effective method of usage, and finally produce it in large quantities for the military.
