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NATO Uses Ukrainian Drone Operators to Simulate Enemy in Military Drills
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NATO has increasingly been using Ukrainian drone operators as a simulated adversary during military exercises, exposing alliance forces to the realities of modern drone warfare, a senior NATO official said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine on April 27.
Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, chair of NATO’s Military Committee, said Ukrainian personnel are frequently tasked with acting as a “red team ” in training scenarios, carrying out drone attacks against alliance units.
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The approach is designed to test NATO’s readiness against emerging threats, particularly the large-scale use of unmanned systems on the battlefield. According to the admiral, the practice has already become widespread among allied forces.
NATO officials say the involvement of Ukrainian units adds a high level of realism to the exercises, forcing participating troops to adapt their tactics under conditions that closely resemble those seen in Ukraine’s war.
The results, Dragone noted, have been unexpected.
For example, during the Hedgehog exercise, Ukrainian drone operators were able to effectively overwhelm a NATO combined battle group in a simulated engagement.
The scenario involved a large force, including troops from a British brigade and an Estonian division, attempting to conduct a mechanized advance across open terrain.
According to the exercise scenario, the units set up tents and positioned armored vehicles without sufficient concealment, making them vulnerable to drone strikes. These targets were quickly “hit” in the simulation.
A small Ukrainian team of roughly 10 personnel conducted the attacks using drones, highlighting the increasingly asymmetric nature of modern warfare.
Over the course of about half a day, the drone operators simulated the destruction of 17 armored vehicles and carried out around 30 additional strikes on other targets.
In addition, recent reports indicated that Germany was planning a significant expansion of the role of Ukrainian combat-experienced personnel within its military training system, as the Bundeswehr looks to adapt to the realities of modern warfare.
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