According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on August 12th, during a military exercise held in Germany earlier this year, U.S. Army units faced off against Ukrainian drone operators, resulting in a defeat for the U.S. forces.
Exercise code name “Combined Resolve”. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that a US armored brigade from Fort Hood in Texas, stationed in Germany, was easily detected and defeated by Ukrainian unmanned aircraft units.
The person said that about 3500 American personnel participated in this exercise. Most of them came from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Cavalry Division. Their mission was to attack a position defended by a fictional enemy unit at the training ground. This unit received reinforcements from the 412th Regiment of the Ukrainian UAV system troops.
According to an Army officer, the U.S. rotational troops were equipped with standard electronic warfare and anti-drone systems. The new mobile brigades, equipped with the latest equipment and tactics, performed significantly better in subsequent exercises. However, according to U.S. officials who attended the briefing and a participant in the exercise, Ukrainian drone operators nearly completely eliminated an entire U.S. armored brigade during the exercise. Due to the speed at which Ukrainian drones hunted down U.S. vehicles, these vehicles had to be re-entered into the exercise as ‘re-spawned’ units in order to continue the exercise.
The report indicates that although the United States has regarded unmanned combat systems as an important part of modern warfare for many years, both this exercise and the casualties suffered by US troops in Iran this year have exposed the vulnerability of the US military when dealing with drones.
The United States was the first to use long-range drones in warfare. In recent years, the Pentagon has spent billions of dollars on purchasing new drones and anti-drone technologies, as well as forming specialized units. However, on this year's Middle East battlefield, the U.S. military still struggled to resist attacks from Iranian long-range drones, resulting in casualties and losses of military aircraft.
American think tank Strategic and International Studies Center scholar Cohen commented that recent battlefield experiences show that various types of drones are crucial for modern warfare. "It is important for the US military to understand this, but unfortunately, so far it doesn’t seem to be the case."
