Ukrainian drone operators defeat U.S. armored brigade in German exercise

Pentagon has spent billions on drone defense despite repeated allied losses

Ukrainian drone operators from the 412th Regiment of Unmanned Systems Forces, known as Nemesis, reinforced the opposition force during the April–May Combined Resolve drill in Germany, according to people familiar with the events. The roughly 3,500 U.S. personnel taking part, primarily from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, rotated in from Fort Hood, Texas, to attack a defended position using armored vehicles, helicopters, and other military assets.

The U.S. troops were equipped with standard electronic-warfare and counterdrone systems, according to an Army official. When the rotating forces attacked, their heavy armored vehicles threw up dust that Ukrainian reconnaissance drones easily spotted, according to a participant. Those drones were followed by drones dropping explosives and first-person-view drones, which smash into targets in combat.

Live ammunition is rarely used in such exercises. Drones typically hover above a vehicle or move close enough for an observer to award them a “kill.” Ukrainian drones were doing this so quickly with U.S. vehicles that the units had to be “re-spawned” — sent back into the exercise as new forces — to keep the drill going, according to a U.S. official briefed on the exercise.

The U.S. reran the training scenario over the two-week engagement. The rotating forces improved their performance as they became more adept at dispersing, concealing themselves, and using electronic warfare, the Army official said. The Ukrainian operators also switched sides midway through and helped U.S. troops use drone technology offensively, which the Americans did effectively, the official added.

Combined Resolve is a semiannual exercise focused on large-scale ground combat operations in which rotating U.S. forces use armored divisions supported by ground troops, helicopters, drones, and other military assets. New Mobile Brigade Combat Teams, equipped with the latest gear and tactics, have fared much better in exercises, the Army official said.

The April–May exercise is the third recent instance of Ukrainian drone teams outmatching NATO-allied forces in war games. In May 2025, Ukrainian drone operators easily defeated British, Estonian, and other NATO forces, including a U.S. contingent, in an exercise in the Baltic region, according to a person familiar with the matter. Earlier this spring, Swedish officials told local media that Ukrainian drone teams also outperformed Swedish-led NATO forces in an exercise.

Eliot Cohen, a scholar at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that recent battlefield experience shows how drones of all kinds are essential to modern war. “It is vital that the U.S. military master that, and thus far, unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case,” he said.

The exercise in Germany comes as the Pentagon has spent billions acquiring new drone and counterdrone technology and formed special units to operate them. America pioneered the use of long-range drones in war. Yet in the Middle East this year, the U.S. has struggled to defend against Iran’s long-range drones, which have killed and injured soldiers and destroyed aircraft.

The exercise also exposed a skill gap inside U.S. drone units. Ukrainian operators have become expert in drone warfare over nearly four and a half years of fighting Russia, with crews and support troops now skilled at continually repairing and adapting drones under fire, the person present at the exercise said. American drone operators, by contrast, lack experience fixing and arming drones under fire, that person said.

Some U.S. military officers argue that drones are particularly deadly in the current war because the front has reached a stalemate with little battlefield movement. In a war of maneuver, the tank and other armor would come back into its own, they say. But Ukrainian military thinkers such as former chief commander Valeriy Zaluzhniy argue that drone technology has made traditional maneuver warfare unfeasible for now, explaining the largely static front line in Ukraine’s east. Both Russia and Ukraine are searching for the next breakthroughs in technology and tactics to restore movement to the battlefield. The Combined Resolve exercise showed that the U.S. may struggle to protect that armor as it moves.

In 2023, a U.S. infantry officer helping train Ukrainian troops realized the U.S. needed to learn from them about drone warfare and designed a training program that other Army units later followed, according to a U.S. official.

Despite a sometimes prickly relationship with Kyiv, President Trump’s administration has been reaching out to Ukraine. The U.S. is currently testing Ukrainian drones to buy and has used counterdrone systems tested in that war to help defend its forces in Iran, according to the Journal. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in May told senators he has increased the number of U.S. personnel being sent to Ukraine to study drone warfare.