Under the watchful eye: Harsh realities of drone warfare driven home during Army drills

The drills pitted the resident opposing force from 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment against an invading coalition led by the Italy-based 173rd Mobile Brigade (Airborne).

With 1,900 drones and tactics lifted straight from Ukraine battlefields, an exercise tested whether soldiers could adapt to a battlefield where troops and vehicles that remain exposed or stationary can be struck within minutes. A machine gunner with the opposing force’s 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, waits in the Bavarian forest during exercise Saber Junction in the Hohenfels Training Area, Germany, Sept. 3, 2026. The unit used drone reconnaissance to track simulated enemy forces throughout the exercise, part of the Army’s effort to adapt training to lessons from the war in Ukraine. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes) HOHENFELS, Germany — The scene was more college dorm than contested German battlefield: three U.S.

soldiers hunched over a screen with an Xbox controller, Red Bull, granola bars and nicotine within arm’s reach. The bleary-eyed drone operators from 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment called for artillery fire on three enemy vehicles sitting in the open beside a tree line. A puff of smoke on the screen confirmed all three were destroyed, leaving nine dead in the simulated strike. “We’ve been watching this group of people,” said Spc. Jair Hernandez, a former tanker. “They have no clue we’re there.” It was one of 29 drone-assisted artillery attacks the unit had carried out by 9 a.m. that day during this year’s Saber Junction, an annual