British troops test high-tech battlefield systems on NATO’s eastern flank

At an abandoned Soviet airfield in Latvia, British soldiers from the Army’s 11th Brigade are experimenting with cutting-edge technologies — from drones and robots to digital command networks — in exercises that could reshape the modern battlefield.

The NATO-linked Exercise Forest Guardian aims to replace traditional tools such as paper maps with advanced battlefield management systems like Arondite Ltd.’s Cobalt, part of a multibillion-pound modernization effort by the UK’s Ministry of Defence, Bloomberg reports.

“NATO is thinking about how it can spread finite resources across a hugely extended new frontier,” said Brigadier Matt Lewis, commander of the 11th Brigade. “We have to make a smaller army more effective over a larger geographic mass.”

During the exercise, British troops, alongside Latvian and Canadian forces, conducted simulated ambushes with robotic and autonomous support. Data from drones such as Anduril’s Ghost X helped identify enemy positions, while ARX Robotics’ camouflaged Gereon vehicle and IDV’s Viking transport platform worked seamlessly with human soldiers. The Cobalt system transmitted real-time intelligence to command screens and mobile devices in the field.

“You’re pushing the front line from being one of manpower to one that’s contesting a front line of robotics,” said Lieutenant Colonel Rob Smith, commanding officer of 3 SCOTS.

Defence startups including ARX Robotics, Anduril Industries, IDV, and L3Harris Technologies joined the drills, refining their systems alongside troops. “What we’re seeing here is the integration of the technician and the tactician,” Lewis noted. “It’s a new approach to commercial relationships.”

According to ARX UK CEO David Roberts, such collaboration is transforming defence procurement. “The VC-backed world is trying to create capabilities ready on a very short timeline,” he said.

While challenges remain — from GPS jamming to Latvia’s dense terrain — the exercises mark the largest British deployment in the country since the 1990s. The next phase will take troops to Finland for testing in even harsher environments.

“If we go into the next conflict with the traditional old-world adaptation cycles, we’re going to lose,” warned Arondite co-founder Will Blyth. “We need to adapt in real time.”

By Vafa Guliyeva