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AIPROPX ReportForbes · 2h ago
How Drone Swarm Tactics Are Becoming The New Norm For U.S. Soldiers
Aerospace & Defense How Drone Swarm Tactics Are Becoming The New Norm For U.S. Soldiers By Zita Ballinger Fletcher ,
Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Zita Ballinger Fletcher is a defense technology reporter Follow Author Aug 25, 2026, 04:53pm EDT Aug 25, 2026, 05:10pm EDT --:-- / --:-- This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . Summary The U.S. Army has established a new standard in robotic combat, with soldiers now proficiently controlling up to 21 small drones and four large autonomous vehicles simultaneously. Recent exercises at Fort Bragg's Sandhills Project demonstrated this "swarm warfare" capability, designed to overwhelm enemies and shift engagements towards robot-on-robot combat. Troops utilized Bumblebee V2 drones and a semi-autonomous Ford F-250 equipped with a 12-gauge shotgun turret for safe anti-drone defense. This force multiplication strategy, accelerated by direct soldier-industry collaboration, enables smaller units to achieve greater impact, conduct elaborate deception operations, and significantly reduce human risk. The Army confirms swarm tactics are no longer future concepts but the present reality, ushering in an era of machine-centric battles.
The U.S. Army disclosed after a landmark drone swarm exercise held at Fort Bragg, North Carolina that individual soldiers are now proficient enough at flying drones that each operator can control up to 21 small unmanned aircraft systems and four large autonomous vehicles at once.
The exercise, the latest iteration of the Army’s Sandhills Project, tested soldiers’ abilities to control drones and unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs, plus use UGVs to defeat drone swarms.
Army engineers told Forbes that the tests marked a major step forward in pushing modern combat methods into all-out battles between robots rather than humans.
“We do one-to-21 so we can overwhelm the enemy. If warfare is about problem-solving, we want to be able to solve problems and create so many dilemmas for the enemy that they cannot respond,” Col. Jeff Burges, commander of the U.S. Army’s 20th Engineering Brigade, said in an exclusive interview.
“If one soldier can present more dilemmas to the enemy – if we can swarm them with 21 drones at a time – they can’t react to that.”
Army engineers tested troops’ abilities to control Bumblebee V2 unmanned aircraft systems, deployed from a “hive" payload, across vast open areas.
They also used a UGV to practice killing drones flying in a swarm. The vehicle was a semi-autonomous Ford F-250 truck equipped with Forterra’s AutoDrive kit and a turret designed to track and shoot down drones.
The 9 Mothers turret, manufactured by EDDA, uses a 12-gauge shotgun that can spin 360 degrees to destroy drones in mid-air.
While a shotgun fires at a slower rate, Army leaders chose this firearm to avoid risks to troops.
“We specifically chose the shotgun and not a machine gun because machine guns present problems,” Sgt. Maj. Corey Wilkens, the Army’s project manager for the exercise, told Forbes.
“Machine gun rounds go a long way. This was a very conscious choice to pick a shotgun because I can have 360-degree firing without having to worry about rounds flying back towards friendly forces and shrinking directions in which I can fire.”
The exercise demonstrated that the equipment not only functioned as intended, but that U.S. soldiers have reached new benchmarks in robotic combat techniques.
A key element of the Army’s recent progress has been the extent to which the service has facilitated direct contact between soldiers and private industry at test ranges and exercises.
This has significantly sped up the process of improving and acquiring new technology, according to Col. Thomas Monaghan, commander of the Lt. Gen. James M. Gavin Joint Innovation Outpost for the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corps.
“One really big key factor here is, for the first time ever, you’ve got soldiers who are coming up with problem sets and being able to solve or address them at the tactical edge with the help of acquisition and industry professionals,” he said in an interview.
“This is the first time the Army has partnered an acquisition cell with an operational unit, the XVIII Airborne Corps. So, through us, with us they can put those companies on contract and push that information back to other portfolio acquisition executives.”
“It’s really helping to enable solving problems at the tactical edge for the warfighter in record time," he said.
While the early years of the war between Russia and Ukraine placed demands on U.S. forces to learn lessons from Ukrainian drone operators, U.S. soldiers are now efficient enough at wielding unmanned systems that the concept of a single operator using a single drone for a mission now belongs to a past era.
Army officials say that swarming is the new standard expectation for soldiers – not only in terms of wielding unmanned aircraft systems but also autonomous systems on the ground.
“The real point of having robotics is to have a force multiplying capability. We see a lot of one-to-one [drone to operator scenarios] in combat between Russia and Ukraine right now, but we know the next evolution – not fighting the last war, but the next war – is that you need robotics be a force multiplier," said Wilkens.
"We can’t have all of our soldiers operating single UAS [unmanned aircraft systems].”
Soldiers can now efficiently operate over two dozen Bumblebee V2 drones each and send them to perform different missions, including intelligence and reconnaissance, plus lock them on targets for one-way explosive attacks.
The Army has also rapidly expanded its use of autonomous ground vehicles. The semi-autonomous Ford F-250 truck can perform a variety of tasks for Army engineers, releasing “hives” of drones in remote areas, detecting mines, and breaching through obstacles.
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