Army to Shut Down Europe Drone Unit    08/21 06:27

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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 Thursday.

   For 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 required.

   Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the Army's acting chief of staff, has ordered the 
battalion to refocus on its core mission of being an airborne infantry unit, 
according to two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss 
internal Army deliberations. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the 
change.

   The 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 April.

   The decision also comes despite the Iran war showing the need for the U.S. 
to learn lessons about drone warfare from Ukraine. Iran has deployed its 
low-cost Shahed drones against ships and bases, killing U.S. troops, downing an 
Army helicopter and forcing the military to expend precious supplies of 
advanced interceptors.

   Ukrainian 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 leader's ousting

   The 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 "first-person view 
(FPV) drone lab" at Caserma Del Din, Italy.

   Its 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 jamming.

   An 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 year's findings, to 
the Army to inform force design and future experimentation."

   A 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 George's tenure, most expected the unit to 
continue its work in drone warfare, the official said.

   "The 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 Department's direction to 
accelerate U.S. military drone dominance," the Army said in a statement.

   The Army had previously prioritized efforts to use drones

   Integrating drones into the Army's tactics was a major focus for LaNeve's 
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 formations."

   George, 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 units.

   After George was ousted without explanation in April, LaNeve took his place. 
He was George's deputy and an officer whose career has seen a meteoric rise 
under Hegseth.

   LaNeve was commanding the U.S. Eighth Army in South Korea when he called in 
to the Commander in Chief Ball during President Donald Trump's inauguration in 
January 2025 and welcomed him back to office.

   In March 2025, LaNeve was transferred to the Pentagon, where he became 
Hegseth's top military adviser. Trump then nominated LaNeve to be the Army's 
vice chief of staff last October.

   In 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 intelligence."

   However, 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 says.