Army Exercise Uses 25 Self-Built Drones and Robots to Clear Breach

Business Insider reported that a US Army company commander used attack drones and ground robots to clear a breach during an exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center in April. The uncrewed systems assault took place at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and involved the 3rd Mobile Brigade Combat Team. Col.

Ryan Bell, the brigade commander, assigned the breach task to one of his company commanders. Bell told the commander to make the breach uncontested for riflemen when they entered. The unit launched 25 attack drones that soldiers had assembled themselves, targeting bunkers, machine gun nests, and triple-strand concertina wire.

Other drones struck electronic warfare sensors and jammers while additional uncrewed aerial systems dropped smoke canisters to obscure the battlefield. Two uncrewed ground vehicles packed with C4 explosives then destroyed remaining obstacles such as land mines and wire.

Every target had been struck," Bell said. He added that the effort used 35 drones and a little over 100 pounds of C4 but cost less than three 155mm artillery barrages. The brigade has also implemented artificial intelligence into its planning, with staff building their own agents.

One AI bot processed 25,000 battlefield reports to provide a clearer picture of the environment. Bell noted limits to the technology. "Large language models don't really understand three-dimensional space, so they're not good for developing courses of action," he said.

Soldiers assembled their own cheap, attritable drone systems using parts from the US Blue UAS List and 3D printed pieces.