Army squads adapt to battlefield where drones can bring fire in seconds

VILSECK, Germany — Spc. Manuel Rojas tiptoed through the thick Bavarian forest this week, his M4 rifle at the ready.

Rojas and the other Vilseck-based soldiers from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment were on edge after having just eliminated two simulated enemy soldiers in a near ambush.

“Drone, drone, drone!” they shouted, after hearing the whir of a small off-the-shelf quadcopter overhead.

The squad ran deeper into the undergrowth to mask their heat signature, then sent up a drone of their own to get eyes on an approaching enemy. When the targets popped up in the distance, they let loose with a cacophony of rifle and machine gun fire.

Soldiers from the Vilseck-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment hike through the forest of the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, on Aug. 12, 2026, to set up a hasty defense against a simulated enemy quick-reaction-force during a squad-level live-fire exercise. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

The use of drones in the squad-level live-fire training Wednesday at the Army’s sprawling complex here is an example of how the small, inexpensive aircraft are reshaping some of the most basic aspects of ground combat, from how troops conceal themselves to how long they can safely remain in one place.

After the firing in the exercise ceased, Capt. Brendan Printup — commander of the regiment’s Eagle Troop, 2nd Squadron — reminded the squad of the lessons they had learned a few months ago during Project Flytrap 5.0 in Lithuania. Opposition forces during that exercise called in indirect fire on their position 45 seconds after spotting them with a drone.

Printup related that experience to the squad-level exercise.

“We heard a drone and it left,” Printup said in his debrief. “If it was trying to find us, it wouldn’t have left, meaning it found us. So we got to get out of there fast.”

Rojas said his squad would take the feedback and make improvements. 

“That’s why we train every day,” he said.

A group of soldiers from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment stage in a metal structure as they wait their turn to assault their objectives during a squad-level live-fire exercise in the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, on Aug. 12, 2026. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Army Spc. Manuel Rojas, a team leader with Eagle Troop, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, directs fire towards a simulated enemy quick-reaction-force during a squad-level live-fire exercise at Range 211 in the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, on Aug. 12, 2026. The qualification exercise shows leadership how soldiers fire and maneuver as well as how they react to drones in the sky over their positions. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)

Staff Sgt. Brayden Lilley, 24, of Eagle Troop, 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, slathers camouflage paint on his face as the Indiana-native prepares for a squad-level live-fire exercise in the Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, on Aug. 12, 2026. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

The Russia-Ukraine war has shown why soldiers need to adapt quickly. Drones are responsible for nearly 85% of front-line casualties in that conflict, the Council on Foreign Relations said in June.

Iran and its Middle East proxy groups have also used them to inflict damage on more powerful foes, namely the United States and Israel.

The Army announced earlier this year that lessons from Ukraine and other conflicts have prompted a doctrinal overhaul aimed at “drone dominance.” The goal is to give soldiers real-world drone experience that can quickly guide doctrinal updates.

In the training areas of rural southern Germany, it is nearly impossible to find a scenario in which drones are not used in some capacity.

They’ve been integrated into Army doctrine through modernization efforts dubbed Transforming in Contact, a new Army fighting style that emphasizes rapid movement, deception, adaptability, and technology like drones, and the counter-drone initiative Project Flytrap, which facilitates experimentation of various vehicle-mounted and wearable systems designed to detect, track and jam hostile drones.

The 2nd Cavalry Regiment’s exercise this week started with the soldiers being transported into the combat zone in Stryker vehicles. They cleared a building and headed into the nearby forest to eliminate a two-man ambush.

After maneuvering away from an enemy drone and reporting the battlefield picture to higher command, they hiked over a hill and set up a hasty defensive line to smash an incoming nine-man quick-reaction force.

The squad-level live-fire exercise is designed so unit leadership can see how the soldiers handle situations involving real bullets, said Sgt. 1st Class Tyler Harrington.

They will follow it with platoon-level maneuvers as they build up to bigger exercises with their European allies.

“Putting us inside these stressful situations and actually doing our jobs to a tee with live ammunition, that’s what really highlights the things we need to work on,” Staff Sgt. Sean Pettit said. “The individual reps and just training, the lower-level taskings, that’s what gets us there.”