▲ A Ukrainian soldier controls a drone.
In April and May of this year, U.S. and Ukrainian forces faced off at a military training ground in Germany.
It was the Combined Resolve joint exercise, which is held twice a year.
The U.S. forces played the attacking side.
A total of 3,500 troops from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, part of the 1st Cavalry Division deployed on a rotation in Germany, were mobilized.
Tank units equipped with electronic warfare and counter-drone systems maneuvered under the support of helicopters and drones.
The opposing force (OPFOR) tasked with stopping them was played by Ukraine.
The backbone of the force consisted of drone operators from Ukraine’s 412th Unmanned Systems Regiment, known as "Nemesis."
As the simulated combat began, the heavy U.S. armored tanks kicked up dust and charged toward enemy lines.
They were spotted one after another by Ukrainian reconnaissance drones.
Shortly after, attack drones dropped bombs, and suicide drones joined the fray.
The armored regiment was wiped out in an instant.
When a drone hovers above or approaches closely, the corresponding tank is considered "killed." Because the tanks were captured by drones so quickly, tanks that received a kill designation had to respawn to re-enter the training.
Reporting on the results of the exercise, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) pointed out on the 12th (local time) that "it showed U.S. armored units could struggle to protect themselves from drone attacks while on the move."
The U.S. Department of Defense has spent billions of dollars securing drone and counter-drone technologies.
It has also created special units to operate them.
However, the WSJ reported that they still struggled against drone attacks.
Elliot Cohen of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a U.S. think tank, noted how essential drones are in modern warfare, pointing out that "it is vital for the U.S. military to master this, but unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case so far."
Indeed, the U.S. military has struggled against Iranian drone attacks in the Middle East.
Iran is a country that has exported drones to Russia, which has been at war with Ukraine for five years.
It has focused on developing drones as an asymmetric capability to counter the United States and Israel.
U.S. military bases in the Middle East have suffered successive casualties following long-range drone attacks by Iran.
Through this exercise, vulnerabilities have been exposed not only to long-range attacks but also to the short-range drone attacks demonstrated by Ukraine.
However, a military official who observed the exercise said that the U.S. military also improved its counter-drone operation capabilities by learning dispersion, concealment, and the use of electronic warfare during the two-week training period.
The help of Ukraine, which boasts abundant combat experience, reportedly played a major role in this.
Despite being at a military disadvantage against Russia, Ukraine has managed to hold out for over four years and well deserves to be called a global powerhouse in drone military operations.
The U.S. military has even imported Ukraine’s counter-drone systems to counter Iranian drone attacks.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stated in May before the federal Senate that the U.S. has increased the number of personnel dispatched to Ukraine to study drone warfare.
The WSJ reported that the United States is pushing to purchase Ukrainian-made drones.
The U.S. military is not the only one that has been brought to its knees by Ukraine’s drone units.
During an exercise held in the Baltic Sea in May of last year, Ukrainian drone units easily defeated British, Estonian, and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces.
It was also reported that this spring, in an exercise conducted by the Swedish military alongside NATO allies, Ukrainian drone units overwhelmed the troops of other nations.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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