Chilling effects: What one Army unit learned about cold-weather drone warfare

[rangerrebew]

Chilling effects: What one Army unit learned about cold-weather drone warfare
Frozen propellers and short-lived batteries are just some of the challenges these grunts faced during training in Europe.
Lauren C. Williams | May 5, 2025 06:07 PM ET
 
   
If small drones are critical to the Army’s future fight, what happens when you run out of batteries?

That’s one of the questions the 10th Mountain Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team tackled during a recent rotation at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Germany.

“We learned a lot of lessons about battery power. For example, the exercise that we conducted was in the wintertime in Germany, so it was below freezing conditions and pretty adverse weather conditions. And what we found was battery life was significantly degraded in the cold and affected the flight time and the ability of us to employ some of our drones,” 3rd Brigade commander Col. Joshua Glonek told reporters Friday.

The Army gave the brigade more than 150 unmanned aerial systems, from sensor drones to one-way attack munitions. Form factors ranged from small quadcopters to medium-range reconnaissance drones that can weigh up to 50 pounds and fly 10 kilometers.

https://www.defenseone.com/defense-systems/2025/05/chilling-effects-what-one-army-unit-learned-about-cold-weather-drone-warfare/405072/?oref=d1-featured-river-secondary

[Smokin Joe]

Cold comes with its own set of problems. (Why I won't consider an EV).

The answer, of course is to develop a battery warming/insulating  jacket, which will consume power, but can have its own battery to not deplete operational power. This may mean larger drones with more lift capacity, but may improve endurance.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Everyone who lives in cold Winter climates dreads the morning when you go out to start your car, and the engine won't turnover because the battery is dead.

Also, ice can form in inconvenient places, like the outside key-lock on the doors and trunks.

I bought a battery tender for my wife's handi-cap van to improve the chances that it will restart when she runs errands during the Winter.

[Smokin Joe]

Everyone who lives in cold Winter climates dreads the morning when you go out to start your car, and the engine won't turnover because the battery is dead.

Also, ice can form in inconvenient places, like the outside key-lock on the doors and trunks.

I bought a battery tender for my wife's handi-cap van to improve the chances that it will restart when she runs errands during the Winter.

Synthetic lubricants help engines in winter. Any time it's below freezing, I plug mine in (frost plug heaters to warm the engine) and have taken to putting trickle chargers in my vehicles which I plug in to keep the batteries up. I will convert a couple of those to solar panels I can put on the dash, and try that out (I have the panels, I have just been lazy...or busy...or something)