U.S. Marines track drones with an FIM-92 Stinger during a Cobra Gold counter-landing drill in Hat Yao, Thailand, Feb. 28, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
HAT YAO, Thailand — Small-arms fire cracked across the shoreline Saturday as U.S. Marines and their Thai and South Korean counterparts braced for a simulated counterattack, defending a stretch of sand they had seized just days before during the opening phase of Cobra Gold, the annual multinational exercise in Thailand.
This time, the threat was not only from the sea.
As marines took up positions, unmanned aerial and surface drones joined the assault, skimming the water and buzzing overhead.
U.S. Marines scan the beachhead ahead of a simulated enemy attack on Hat Yao Beach in Thailand, part of the multinational Cobra Gold exercise, Feb. 28, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
A Thai marine mans a light machine gun from a foxhole in Hat Yao, Thailand, during a Cobra Gold counter-landinig exercise on Feb. 28, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
“Trigger Line Red, Trigger Line Red,” U.S. Marine 1st Lt. Karl Specht, a company commander assigned to Task Force Ashland, called into his radio, signaling the start of simulated fire.
The counter-landing drill used no live ammunition — only blanks — but its targets were substantial. Instead of static markers, marines tracked a remote-controlled drone boat, the Hammerhead USV-T, capable of shifting speed and direction, as well as aerial drones, including the MQM-170 Outlaw and a swarm of smaller unmanned aircraft.
A U.S. Marine calls for a situation report during a Cobra Gold counter-landing drill in Hat Yao, Thailand, Feb. 28, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
The scenario followed a much larger amphibious landing on the same beach Thursday. Though small in scale, the defensive phase offered a different kind of challenge, said Master Sgt. Matthew Hall of Task Force Ashland, about 200 Marines and sailors from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
The Thai beach was “new terrain” for the Camp Pendleton, Calif.-based Marines, he said by phone Sunday. “But just by the proficiency of our Marines and our partners, they were able to be flexible and adjust as marines do and were able to develop a very capable defense.”
Cobra Gold has long included beach defense drills, but the presence of drones this year increased the exercise’s realism. The unmanned vessels did not simply approach in straight lines; they maneuvered unpredictably, forcing marines to reassess how and when to engage.
Thai marines man a 105-mm artillery piece during a Cobra Gold counter-landing drill at Hat Yao beach, Thailand, Feb. 28, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
“[The drones] were able to move laterally with increased and decreased speed,” Hall said. “It made the marines think more critically on how they would engage those and when they should fire specific trigger lines — which weapons systems would be best employed against these targets.”
Away from the shoreline, simulated casualties — marines wearing moulage, or realistic mock injuries — were carried from the sand to a medical station about half a mile away. There, U.S. and Thai medics worked together, evaluating wounds and rehearsing treatment under controlled but demanding conditions.
American and Thai marine medics evaluate a simulated casualty during a Cobra Gold counter-landing exercise in Hat Yao, Thailand, Feb. 28, 2026. (Alex Wilson/Stars and Stripes)
For Hall, the drill’s most lasting takeaway was not technological, but human.
“Being able to integrate with [the Thai and South Korean marines] was probably the greatest lesson,” he said. “Because in the end, we’re all here for the same thing … we’re here to ensure a safe and secure, stable Indo-Pacific.”
As the drill ended, marines waited in their dugouts for the final word.
“All stations, all stations, enemy destroyed,” Specht called into his radio. “I say again, enemy destroyed. Clear out your weapons, clear your marines out.”
