Ukrainian Drones Challenge U.S. Troops
PHOTO CAPTION: U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Logan Parks pilots a surveillance drone during exercise Combined Resolve 26-07 at Hohenfels Training Area, Germany, April 27, 2026. (U.S. Army Reserve photo by Staff Sgt. Luke Wilson)
Ukrainian drone operators reportedly overwhelmed U.S. Army troops during a major training exercise in Germany this spring, according to a Wall Street Journal report published Aug. 13, 2026.
The exercise, Combined Resolve 26-07, was held at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, from April 9 to May 10, 2026. More than 3,800 personnel participated, with the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division from Fort Hood serving as the primary U.S. training audience.
According to the Journal, Ukrainian operators from the 412th Regiment of Unmanned Systems Forces, known as Nemesis, supported the opposing force and quickly located and defeated U.S. troops and armored vehicles using reconnaissance drones, explosive-dropping drones and first-person-view drones.
The Ukrainian operators were reportedly scoring simulated kills so quickly that some U.S. vehicles had to be returned to the exercise — effectively “respawned” — so training could continue.
The U.S. forces improved as the exercise progressed, according to the report, becoming better at dispersing, concealing themselves and using electronic warfare. Ukrainian troops later switched sides and helped the Americans employ drones offensively.
The exercise comes as the Army works to adapt to the kind of drone-heavy warfare that has defined the war in Ukraine. Official Army reporting from Combined Resolve says the 3rd Brigade employed more than 400 unmanned aerial systems across six commands as part of efforts to improve battlefield sensing, targeting and survivability.
Army leaders have acknowledged how dramatically drones and sensors are changing ground combat. Lt. Col. Michael Andrew Cryer, commander of the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, said during the exercise that troops now face a battlefield where they can potentially be seen almost anywhere and hiding has become increasingly difficult.
Combined Resolve is designed to expose exactly these kinds of weaknesses before units face them in combat. The Army describes the recurring exercise as a way to evaluate brigades operating in a complex, multi-domain battlefield alongside allied and partner forces.
The reported performance by the Ukrainian operators provides a particularly stark example of the gap between troops who have spent years fighting a drone-intensive war and formations still adapting those lessons to large-scale armored operations.
(Source: OAF Nation)
