The British Army has held its first Drone Wars competition, putting 23 teams through a series of tactical scenarios designed to test how soldiers use unmanned systems during combat rather than simply how well they can fly them, according to the British Army.
The competition was held at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and brought together teams from units across the Army, including armoured, engineering and logistics formations. Each four-person team followed a patrol route containing six separate tasks, with soldiers assessed on both speed and accuracy while using several types of drone.
The scenarios included using a First Person View, or FPV, drone to strike a moving vehicle, flying another into a bunker, and interpreting video supplied by a separate drone operator before directing an FPV aircraft onto a target. Other tasks required teams to locate friendly troops and deliver medical supplies by drone, conduct aerial reconnaissance ahead of a simulated infantry assault, and identify an enemy position before calling in an artillery strike.
The competition was organised by 16 Air Assault Brigade, which leads the Army’s work on developing tactics for operating both with and against unmanned aircraft.
According to a British Army news update, Major Callum Jones of 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles said: “The British Army is embracing drone technology as a key element of modern soldiering. Drones are no longer a specialist field, and every soldier needs to be aware of how to use drones and how to defend against drones used by the enemy.”
Teams were deliberately drawn from a broad range of formations rather than units specialising in unmanned aviation, reflecting the Army’s effort to distribute drone skills more widely across the force.
Jones added: “The teams taking part in this event are not just from combat units, with engineers and logistics troops competing as well, and that demonstrates how broad the adoption of drones is.”
The event placed particular emphasis on integrating drones with existing battlefield tasks. Rather than testing flying ability in isolation, soldiers had to use information gathered from unmanned aircraft to support reconnaissance, artillery and infantry activity.
“What we are testing is how soldiers use drones tactically, not how well they can fly them,” Jones said. “As well as striking targets, soldiers are using drones to gather information to inform other actions, such as calling in artillery or launching an infantry attack. As well as a competition, this is a chance to learn from each other and share skills.”
A combined team from the 2nd and 4th Battalions of The Ranger Regiment won the inaugural competition.
Among the soldiers taking part were Troopers Darel Anderson and Harvey Chilman, who operated as a hunter-killer pair. Anderson used a Skydio drone to locate targets before passing information to Chilman, who operated an FPV drone to conduct simulated strikes.
Anderson, who drives an Ares armoured personnel carrier with the Household Cavalry Regiment, said his role depended as much on observation and communication as piloting.
“I’ve been flying drones for two years, and we’re working hard as a unit to understand how best to use them. Drones help us see more of the battlefield, so we can strike the enemy before they get close enough to target us.”
He added: “My role is to find targets and guide an FPV pilot for their drone to make the strike. You need good observation skills to interpret what the drone is seeing, and then to clearly communicate that information to other soldiers. These are basic soldiering skills that we’re using in a different way with new technology.”
Chilman serves on Challenger 2 main battle tanks with the Queen’s Royal Hussars and was the first soldier in his regiment to qualify as an FPV pilot. He said he had accumulated more than 170 flying hours before the event.
“We’re integrating drones into how we operate under armour, and it’s been interesting to operate as dismounted troops on this event,” he said.
Chilman also compared FPV operations with tank gunnery, saying: “For me, there’s a similarity between flying drone missions and tank gunnery – both are about getting into the right position to line up on the target and hit it.”
