US Army ends drone warfare experiment, returns Europe unit to infantry role

An Army unit based in Europe that was specializing in drone warfare has been directed to end its efforts to learn and use the battlefield technology and return to being a traditional infantry battalion officials said ThursdayFor more nearly a year soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade have been experimenting and building their own drones as well as participating in drills on waging unmanned warfare after Ukraine pioneered such tactics in its yearslong conflict with Russia Last November 600 soldiers formed a battalion that specialized in drone warfare and was set up to be used as a dedicated unit that could deploy anywhere drones were requiredGen Christopher LaNeve the Armys acting chief of staff has ordered the battalion to refocus on its core mission of being an airborne infantry unit according to two US officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal Army deliberations The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the changeThe move comes amid a broader reshuffling of the Army under LaNeve who has been its top uniformed leader since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suddenly ousted Gen Randy George in AprilThe decision also comes despite the Iran war showing the need for the US to learn lessons about drone warfare from Ukraine Iran has deployed its lowcost Shahed drones against ships and bases killing US troops downing an Army helicopter and forcing the military to expend precious supplies of advanced interceptorsUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in March that Ukrainian officials were helping five countries in the Middle East and Gulf region counter Iranian drone attacks while the United States and European countries were among others that had requested support Drone unit had expected to continue its work before Army leaders oustingThe overall 173rd Airborne Brigade which is based in Italy and Germany has been involved in drone warfare even before last November In May 2025 the Army highlighted that soldiers from the brigade were designing and building their own attack drones in a new firstperson view FPV drone lab at Caserma Del Din ItalyIts commander at the time Col Joshua Gaspard said in an Army media post that his soldiers see videos of FPV drones in Ukraine all over Instagram and the news media and they were excited to be using these systems The unit also dabbled in artificial intelligence which Hegseth has been pushing and designing drones resistant to jammingAn Army statement said the specialized drone unit will wrap up its experimentation following two major exercises in Germany this month and next then deliver what it learned there together with the past years findings to the Army to inform force design and future experimentationA third official who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity to detail internal moves noted the expectation was always that the exercises would be a culminating event for the drone battalion and that its future would then be reevaluated During Georges tenure most expected the unit to continue its work in drone warfare the official saidThe unit was tasked to study and absorb lessons from dedicated unmanned systems forces including those developed by the Ukrainian armed forces and to provide that feedback to the Army in support of the Departments direction to accelerate US military drone dominance the Army said in a statementThe Army had previously prioritized efforts to use dronesIntegrating drones into the Armys tactics was a major focus for LaNeves predecessor George alongside Army Secretary Dan Driscoll last year rolled out what they called the Army Transformation Initiative which pushed to add modernized unmanned aircraft systems into formationsGeorge who became Army chief of staff under President Joe Biden regularly spoke about the need to accelerate development of new drone systems and get them in the hands of regular soldiers not just specialized unitsAfter George was ousted without explanation in April LaNeve took his place He was Georges deputy and an officer whose career has seen a meteoric rise under HegsethLaNeve was commanding the US Eighth Army in South Korea when he called in to the Commander in Chief Ball during President Donald Trumps inauguration in January 2025 and welcomed him back to officeIn March 2025 LaNeve was transferred to the Pentagon where he became Hegseths top military adviser Trump then nominated LaNeve to be the Armys vice chief of staff last OctoberIn a guiding memo for the Army published Wednesday LaNeve argued that the next war will not look like our last and that soldiers need to learn innovate and adapt faster by pairing our human ingenuity and judgment with advanced technologies like autonomy and artificial intelligenceHowever the memo does not mention drones and closes by arguing that there are timeless truths in war This is the Army we must be disciplined lethal and relentless an Army that closes with and destroys the enemy leaving no doubt about the will and power of the United States the document 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