Army Revamps Basic Training to Simulate Battlefield Stalked by Drone Swarms

One lesson from the Ukraine war is that when U.S. troops deploy to combat zones, they must be constantly aware that “literally the sky above you, just above the treetops, can be buzzing with danger,” said Samuel Bendett, a Russia team member with CNA, a non-profit research and analysis organization in Arlington, Virginia.

“The U.S. military is not used to not controlling the zero to 2,000-feet altitude, where a lot of this drone activity is actually taking place,” Bendett told Task & Purpose. “That is, the U.S. military is used to having the Air Force controlling the skies, clearing the skies of adversarial assets. But a lot of fighting In Ukraine isn’t necessarily at higher altitudes, even where helicopters are flying.”

In Ukraine, drones provide constant observation over both Russian and Ukrainian forces, Bendett said. That means U.S. troops must train how to maneuver in a drone-saturated environment.

“Essentially, the main lesson is: Any large group of anything — whether it’s humans, systems, weapons — will be a potential target,” Bendett said. “The movement must be in as small of a group as possible as quickly as possible. You don’t move 20 soldiers at once. You try to move in small groups, for example, with ample distance between soldiers. You move at different times of the day. You don’t emanate a lot of signals when you move.”

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