US Army Tests Robot-Led Breach Using Soldier-Built Drones

The 3rd Mobile Brigade Combat Team of the US Army's 101st Airborne Division conducted field tests in April at the Joint Readiness Training Center in Fort Johnson South, Louisiana, to integrate large-scale drone operations into combat tactics. The unit executed a fully robotic trench-line breach using over 500 drones, including 150 in-house built Attritable Battlefield Enabler (ABE) 1.01 one-way attack drones. These low-cost systems, costing roughly $750 each, were produced by soldiers using 3D-printed components and military-approved parts.

The operation utilized Medium-Range Reconnaissance drones to neutralize sensors and ABEs to drop grappling hooks and clear concertina wire. Hunter WOLF unmanned ground vehicles then used C4 charges to clear landmines and destroy bunkers before human riflemen entered the area. This drone contact layer strategy aimed to make the breach uncontested, achieving the objective at a cost lower than three 155mm artillery barrages.

Colonel Ryan Bell stated that sustaining such operations would require a brigade to deploy between 1,000 and 1,500 drones per week. He advocated for treating drones as expendable ammunition rather than niche capabilities, emphasizing the need for mass, low cost, and combat utility. While the brigade also experimented with artificial intelligence to process 25,000 battlefield reports, Bell noted that large language models remained ineffective for developing three-dimensional tactical courses of action.