Cpl. Griffin Wolber, left, of the III Expeditionary Operations Training Group, and Cpl. Anne-Tess Debooij, of the 12th Littoral Combat Team, perform safety checks on a training drone at Camp Schwab, Okinawa, May 20, 2026. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP SCHWAB, Okinawa — Marines took their first steps toward using drones in combat and relief missions as they practiced maneuvering the unmanned aircraft through obstacles at this base in northern Okinawa on Wednesday.
Eighteen students participated in the three-week Basic Drone Operator Course, one of six piloting courses the Marine Corps announced in December. It plans to field tens of thousands of unmanned aerial systems this year.
Marines in the final stage of the course flew their drones in and out of 9-square-feet windows and around stationary poles made of PVC pipes.
Several times that morning, Sgt. Ryan Hopkins of the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion maneuvered his drone through the course to a successful landing. A breeze on the range posed the biggest challenge, he said after a flight.
“It was definitely different with the wind, that’s kind of the main difference,” he said, comparing real flight to classroom simulators. “You can feel the weight of the drone a little bit more, if you like, but that’s about it.”
Maj. Brant Wayson, officer in charge of the III Expeditionary Operations Training Group’s Unmanned Systems Branch, gives a safety brief to Marines in the Basic Drone Operators Course at Camp Schwab, Okinawa, May 20, 2026. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
Before hitting the range, students learned how to build a 7-inch, first-person-view drone from a kit, then practiced hovering and maneuvering through obstacles using simulators.
The operators flew the drones only about 65 feet, Maj. Brant Wayson, the officer in charge of the III Expeditionary Operations Training Group’s Unmanned Systems Branch, told reporters between flights.
By the end of the course, the Marines can fly the drones in “full acro mode” — performing flips, rolls and dives without stabilizers, he said.
After taking the basic course, Marines may advance to the Attack Drone Operator Course, where they learn to deliver explosive payloads with Neros Archer drones.
The technology “directly supports” the Marines’ expeditionary advanced base operations concept – a key tenet of the service’s Force Design reorganization calling for small, mobile groups to disperse within the range of enemy missiles to seize and hold islands and sink enemy vessels.
A Marine Corps first-person-view training drone flies toward an obstacle course at Camp Schwab, Okinawa, May 20, 2026. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
“It just adds another layer of range that you can start reaching out and targeting adversaries or supporting your own forces in distributed island scenarios,” Wayson said.
The courses were designed following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s July 10 memo instructing combat units to incorporate more small drones into their arsenals.
In February and March, the training group focused on certifying drone operators with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, Wayson said. Marines with the unit are aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli in the Middle East supporting operations against Iran, according to U.S. Central Command.
“I think we all know based off of where they are right now that that was very important to do,” said Wayson, who declined to say if the unit was using drones in its operations.
