Exercise proves why traditional skills and drills still matter in a drone-dominated battlefield

During Exercise Combined Resolve, a recurring US military exercise in Germany, troops found themselves fighting through forests swarming with Ukrainian drones.

Just three days into the exercise, approximately 70% of casualties were attributed to enemy drones. But by the end of the third day, that figure had fallen to 30%.

The lessons learnt from the exercise, which concluded in April, have been the subject of a new analysis report which revealed major vulnerabilities in traditional forces when confronted with low-cost, small unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

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Never overlook the fundamentals 

The assault troops, the 1st Cavalry Division's 3rd Armoured Brigade Combat Team, known as Greywolf, were pitted against US paratroopers assisted by a Ukrainian unmanned systems force unit called Nemesis. 

The report conducted by US Army University Press concluded that while the Greywolf soldiers were vulnerable to drone strikes, they were able to quickly adapt their tactics to operate in a UAS-saturated environment. 

It also emphasised that fundamental battlefield skills – such as camouflage, radio discipline, effective use of cover and movement away from established tracks – remain essential skills that must be applied, even in today's battlespace increasingly dominated by drones.  

In our video above, BFBS Forces News delves deeper into the report findings, which highlighted the urgent need to prepare troops to operate in environments where they are under constant surveillance and threats from attack drones.