WSJ: Ukrainian drones overwhelmed US forces in battlefield drill exercise

A US military exercise in Germany has exposed potential weaknesses in Pentagon readiness after Ukrainian drone units defeated American ground forces using modern battlefield tactics.

These sobering results were first reported on by the Wall Street Journal this week.

The Combined Resolve exercise, held in Germany this spring, involved US soldiers and armored vehicles deployed from Fort Hood, Texas, for a simulated battlefield scenario. The American forces entered the exercise equipped with traditional military hardware, including heavily armored vehicles.

However, Ukrainian drone units reportedly defeated the US forces with relative ease. According to the outlet, the number of simulated kills inflicted by Ukrainian drones was so high that American units had to be redeployed to allow the exercise to continue.

The outcome, together with US military losses and challenges encountered during the war involving Iran, has highlighted concerns over the Pentagon’s ability to adapt to the rapidly changing nature of modern warfare, particularly the growing role of unmanned systems.

While many of the casualties reported in the Iran conflict have involved long-range drones, the lessons from Combined Resolve center largely on short-range first-person-view (FPV) drones. These relatively inexpensive systems have become a central feature of the war in Ukraine and have significantly altered battlefield tactics.

Ukrainian forces have used FPV drones extensively for reconnaissance and attacks against personnel, vehicles and other battlefield targets, forcing militaries around the world to reconsider the role of traditional armoured equipment and battlefield defences.

The United States has increasingly sought to draw on Ukraine’s experience. According to the *Wall Street Journal*, Washington has used Ukrainian drone expertise during the Iran conflict and is testing Ukrainian-built unmanned systems with a view to potentially procuring them.

US defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said in May that additional American personnel would be sent to Ukraine to study its drone capabilities and battlefield experience.

The lessons from Ukraine are also being examined by other NATO members. The United States is not the only Western military to have struggled against Ukrainian drone tactics in exercises, with British and Swedish forces also reportedly performing poorly in simulated battlefield scenarios against Ukrainian units.

By Nazrin Sadigova