The Department of Defense announced on Wednesday that a recent joint military exercise between U.S. and British forces demonstrated the advancement of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance” memorandum.
According to the Department of Defense, U.S. soldiers assigned to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and British Army soldiers assigned to the 1st Royal Yorkshire Regiment recently held the fourth Project Flytrap exercise at Poland’s Bemowo Piskie Training Area and Germany’s Hohenfels Training Area. The Department of Defense noted that the Project Flytrap training is intended to help prepare for the threat of unmanned aerial systems in battle.
“Project Flytrap is … a series of training events that we’ve designed to test and refine some new counter-unmanned aerial systems … and tactics to respond to the evolving threat of drone warfare,” Col. Matthew B. Davis, V Corps transformation chief and the director of the Project Flytrap exercise, said.
Davis added, “The lessons learned from … recent conflicts highlighted this critical capability gap, and we’re looking for Project Flytrap to directly address those through the training, which we conducted … we’re working to enhance our collective ability to deter potential adversaries and maintain a decisive edge.”
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According to the Department of Defense, Project Flytrap involved U.S. and British forces working with industry experts to refine the development of technology to counter unmanned aerial systems. The department noted that the exercise demonstrates the work Hegseth directed the U.S. military to emphasize as part of the Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance memorandum.
Col. Donald R. Neal, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment commander, said, “One thing that I know [the secretary] is trying to get after from the memo that’s been pushed down is he wants to see the use of drones incorporated in the training.”
“That’s exactly what Project Flytrap is doing. You’ve got troops that are fighting each other, force-on-force, that are incorporating small UAS and counter-UAS, all in the same battle drills that we’ve done for decades,” Neal added. “So, I think we’re nested, we’re right within that intent on figuring this out and training with it now, so the first time we’re encountering it isn’t on the battlefield.”
Last month, Hegseth issued a memorandum to unleash the U.S. military’s drone dominance in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order that emphasized the need for the United States to “accelerate the safe commercialization of drone technologies and fully integrate UAS into the National Airspace System.” At the time, Hegseth explained that the president’s executive order would “bolster our drone industry and arm our warfighters.”
