Senior officers need more data training, Army counterdrone exercise suggests
Leaders of the five-month Project Flytrap discussed preliminary findings.
Lauren C. Williams | July 31, 2025 07:00 AM ET
Army Drones
The Army’s counterdrone mega-exercise in Europe isn’t over, but at least one thing seems clear: senior officers need more data training.
For the past five months, Project Flytrap has assembled U.S. soldiers and counterparts from Australia, Poland, and the United Kingdom to learn and improve on how to use counter unmanned aerial systems. Acquisition officials and industry representatives also joined the event, whose fourth phase wraps up on July 31. There are plans to add two more phases in fiscal year 2026.
Soldiers adapted quickly during the exercises, said Col. Donald Neal, who leads the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
“We have years in the Middle East—fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan—where we had to learn to adapt to be survivable and lethal. I don't think that's changed,” Neal told reporters Wednesday. “We are learning rapidly how to incorporate drones into our [tactics, techniques and procedures] and the ways that we fight.”
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2025/07/senior-officers-need-more-data-training-army-counterdrone-exercise-suggests/407121/?oref=d1-featured-river-secondary
