2 weeks ago
Ukrainian drones wiped out US Army armored brigade in exercise
Soldiers sometimes practice fighting without using real weapons, and that practice is called a military exercise.
Ukrainian pilots who fly small drones took part in an exercise in Germany against American soldiers.
The Americans brought big armored vehicles and lots of soldiers to the game.
The Ukrainian drone pilots kept finding the American vehicles and locking their targeting systems onto them.
In a war game, when a drone locks onto a target, that target counts as destroyed.
The Americans kept running out of vehicles before the exercise was supposed to end.
The people running the exercise had to send in replacement vehicles, like players respawning in a video game, so the game could continue.
The Ukrainians are so good at flying drones because they have been practicing in a real war with Russia for the past four years.
The Americans got better during the two weeks by learning to spread out and hide their vehicles.
In the exercise, the drone pilots showed that small, cheap drones can beat big and expensive armored vehicles.
Ukrainian drones repeatedly wiped out a US Army armored brigade during the Combined Resolve exercise in Germany.
The US Army's 3rd Armored Brigade was beaten by Ukraine's 412th Regiment of Unmanned Systems Forces, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Ukrainian drone operators breached US defenses and locked on to vehicles so quickly that US units had to be "respanned" to keep the exercise going.
British, Estonian, and Swedish militaries previously lost similar exercises against Ukrainian forces.
US forces improved during the two-week exercise by learning to disperse and conceal their vehicles from drones.
- Who
- Ukrainian drone operators of the 412th Regiment of Unmanned Systems Forces and US Army troops of the 3rd Armored Brigade.
- What
- Ukrainian drones repeatedly wiped out a US Army armored brigade during the Combined Resolve exercise.
- Where
- Germany.
- When
- During the semiannual Combined Resolve exercise in Germany; exact dates were not given in the report.
- Why
- The exercise was intended to test the US military's ability to operate against, and defend against, the proliferation of smaller frontline drones.
Key facts
- Reported by
- The Wall Street Journal
- Exercise
- Combined Resolve (semiannual)
- Location
- Germany
- US unit
- US Army 3rd Armored Brigade
- Ukrainian unit
- 412th Regiment of Unmanned Systems Forces
- Duration
- Two weeks
- Drone types used
- Explosive-dropping drones and first-person-view (FPV) suicide drones
- Other militaries that lost to Ukraine
- British, Estonian, and Swedish
Quotes
Ukrainian drone operator
Self‑identified Ukrainian drone operator involved in the exercise
“Ukrainian drones located and locked on to US vehicles so quickly that they had to be sent back into the exercises —or 'respawn' in the language of war games— to keep the exercise going”
firstpost.com








