The US Army is shutting down a specialist drone-warfare battalion in Europe and returning it to a traditional infantry role — a striking reversal as Ukraine’s war with Russia reshapes modern combat.

The 600-strong unit had spent nearly a year developing drones, testing artificial intelligence and studying tactics pioneered on Ukraine’s battlefields.

Drone experiment reaches abrupt end

Soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Italy and Germany had been building their own first-person-view attack drones and developing systems designed to withstand electronic jamming.

The specialist battalion was created in November to provide a dedicated force capable of deploying wherever unmanned warfare was required. But Gen Christopher LaNeve, the Army’s acting chief of staff, has ordered it back towards its core airborne infantry mission.

The Army says the unit will complete two major exercises before handing its findings to senior leaders to shape future drone development.

Reversal comes as drones dominate war

The decision comes amid growing evidence that cheap drones are transforming warfare. Ukraine has built an advanced unmanned warfare ecosystem after years of fighting Russia, while Iranian forces have also used low-cost Shahed drones against US forces.

Those attacks have killed American troops, downed an Army helicopter and forced the military to expend sophisticated air-defence interceptors against relatively cheap weapons.

Ukrainian officials have even been helping countries in the Middle East and Gulf respond to Iranian drone attacks.

Army insists lessons will not be lost

The shutdown marks a significant change from the approach championed by LaNeve’s predecessor, Gen Randy George, who pushed for drones to be integrated throughout the Army rather than concentrated in specialist formations.

LaNeve’s latest strategy memo nevertheless warns that “the next war will not look like our last”, calling for faster innovation and greater use of autonomy and artificial intelligence.

The Army says the drone battalion was always intended as an experiment with a defined endpoint. But as battlefield technology races ahead, the decision to dismantle a dedicated European drone unit risks raising questions over whether America is moving quickly enough to absorb Ukraine’s hard-won lessons.

US Army to shut down unit in Europe focused on drone warfare

The unit was also championed by Gen. Chris Donahue, the former commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, whose July removal by Hegseth divided Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“The experience of a recent exercise in Europe … in which the Ukrainians beat U.S. Army forces, shows that the U.S. has a lot to learn,” added Pettyjohn, a U.S. defense strategy expert. “The Pentagon should be taking every opportunity to learn from the Ukraine war. The Russians, Chinese and North Koreans certainly are.”

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6042667-us-army-phasing-out-drone-unit/

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The US Army currently appears to be outmatched in the realm of drone warfare by more experienced military forces.

It was revealed just last week that Ukrainian drone pilots had decisively defeated a US unit earlier this year. During the "Combined Resolve" exercise, members of the Ukrainian 412th Drone Brigade "Nemesis" succeeded in repelling a mechanized attack.

America will still use very expensive missiles to take down a 50 K drone,

You would think that they would learn from what Ukraine are doing ,Russia

thought it was going to be a 2 week war , now it's going on nearly 5 years,

so Ukraine are doing something right.

regards worgeordie

This is nonsense and misdirection to kid everyone it isn't interested in the topic, but they will go deep black budget on it in secret. When the US military releases something like this statement, then you are in fantasy land to take it at face value.

another example in military history where technologically new weaponry was moved between concentration and distribution as tactics and technology evolve, viz the british machine gun corps of ww1.

none of you critics have sufficient knowledge of the circumstances, you are just burping up more idiot trump insanity

Edited 21 minutes ago21 min by Yagoda