The US Is Scrambling to Catch Up in Small-Drone Warfare
Enthusiasts on active service are experimenting with cheap, hand-held drones as the Pentagon tries to absorb battlefield lessons from Ukraine.
Modern small drones are controlled from the battlefield rather than by operatives thousands of miles away.
Photographer: Zak Lara/USNDA Media Team
The first day of an unusual new military contest had already wrapped up when the Navy SEALs got an idea. Did anyone want to play drone hide-and-seek after dark in the northern Florida woods?
Ernesto Viveros, part of a 12-person conventional US Army drone team, sure did. He watched as the SEALs flung on camouflage cloaks before heading into the woods under cover of darkness. Viveros and his teammates then launched their rag-tag assortment of small, remote-controlled drones in pursuit and tried to defend a rooftop target from takeover.