Drones were already used as weapons or weapons carriers in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in Syria – including against US soldiers stationed there. But drone warfare only came into general awareness with the war in Ukraine. In Ukraine, both warring parties not only use specially developed and larger combat drones, but also small, commercially available drones that can be purchased at any time on the Internet.
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These drones deliver explosive devices over their targets and then drop them. This allows tanks, for example, to be hit at the point where they have the weakest armor: at the top of the turret. In contrast, Ukrainian and Russian tank crews initially installed improvised “cages” or “roofs” made of wire mesh as a protective cover on the tank turrets, but these “roofs” now make a professional and standardized impression.
Hamas terrorists also used it to disable Israeli tanks during Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israeli troops on October 7, 2023. The Israeli army’s Merkava battle tanks are now promptly driving around with such wire mesh/cages.
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The US Army is now practicing exactly this combat scenario. Specifically, it is the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Liberty (in the US state of North Carolina) that practices the attack with small, commercially available drones that the soldiers have adapted for their purposes: the drones drop explosive devices over the target.
This is the first time the US Army has trained in this type of warfare. So far, Western armies have limited themselves to practicing drone defense. The German Bundeswehr has first founded a task force to theoretically approach the topic: Bundeswehr has been sleeping for almost 2 years – task force for small drones has finally been founded. However, as is often the case in Germany and especially in the Bundeswehr, the practical use of small drones in the Bundeswehr is hampered by considerable bureaucratic requirements:
After the health of the potential pilots for flying service had been checked, an aviation file had to be created to record their flying hours. Then the future pilots went on the five-day course. Finally, the unmanned aircraft was picked up from Todendorf.
Mario Kissel on Bundeswehr.de
But now American airborne troops are training to do the exact opposite: attacking and destroying enemy material using drones that drop grenades. So the same way of fighting that the Ukrainians use, for example, to destroy Russian tanks or fight Russian soldiers in trenches and trenches.
Training is currently underway on the previous practice grounds. But the US Army wants to build special training areas for drone combat by 2031. In keeping with the well-known concept of combined arms combat, the aim is to practice how dismounted infantry fight the enemy together with combat vehicles (e.g. infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks) and small drones.
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