From delivering stores to high-speed racing, soldiers have had their eyes firmly on the sky as the use of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) gathers pace in the British Army.
While the latest technology was being tested by the Experimentation and Trials Group (ETG) on Salisbury Plain, soldiers were enjoying the thrills and spills of First Person View (FPV) drone racing at events in London and Colchester.
An assault on Imber village by 2nd Battalion The Royal Yorkshire Regiment used a wide range of drones able to fulfil varied roles, as well as technology to counter the threat of drones.
Troops laid mines from a Spike Firefly UAS to ambush enemy vehicles, received supplies and evacuated a casualty on a Malloy T400 heavy lift drone, flew Parrot Anafis to observe the ground ahead, and dropped small munitions from DefendTex D40s.
A soldier from 2nd Battalion The Royal Yorkshire Regiment fires a combat shotgun at an enemy drone at Imber Village during a demonstration on 19th September 2024
Enemy drones flying over the 2 R YORKS troops were jammed using DroneShield equipment and shot out of the sky with the Smartshooter SMASH sight, which mounts on the standard issue SA80 A3 assault rifle and uses image processing software to target UAS. A blast from a shotgun provided a low-tech last line of defence.
This is my first major exercise since leaving training and it has been an eye opener, seeing how all the kit we have here works, and how it would come together in a real scenario
– PRIVATE CHARLIE BUGBY, 2ND BATTALION THE ROYAL YORKSHIRE REGIMENT
D40 operator Private Charlie Bugby said:
“This is my first major exercise since leaving training and it has been an eye opener, seeing how all the kit we have here works, and how it would come together in a real scenario.”
ETG Commander Colonel Toby Till said the widespread use and varied applications of UAS mean that commanders at every level “need to be looking up as much as they are looking down”.
“We have a range of sensors, a number of drones of all sizes, and importantly got the network that can take those feeds,” he said. “There is a whole series of effectors, particularly FPV drones which take a real niche skill to be able to operate, and we are learning from our partners across defence how to operate those.”
Drone racing is a way for soldiers to learn the challenging skill of flying FPV drones, which are flown using a virtual reality headset and lack the GPS and stabilization software fitted to conventional drones. This makes them much harder to fly, but simpler to construct and maintain and less vulnerable to jamming.
The pilot is in total control of an FPV and you have to understand how the drone banks when it turns and be more precise in use of the controls
– PRIVATE BLAKE SUMMERVILLE, 3RD BATTALION THE PARACHUTE REGIMENT
Private Blake Summerville raced for 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment at the 1st (UK) Division drone racing competition, held in Colchester as the first event of its kind organised by the Army.
“The pilot is in total control of an FPV and you have to understand how the drone banks when it turns and be more precise in use of the controls,” he said. “It is quite hard to learn, and it takes a lot of time to build your experience and muscle memory.
Competing against others gives you an idea of your own skills – and I feel that I am at a good level for the time that I’ve been flying.”
With five units entering teams, the event was open to soldiers enrolled on the jHub Drone Academy, which is training a cadre of FPV UAS pilots. It is part of Project Lewes, the Army’s work to integrate new technologies and capabilities into its existing forces to improve lethality.
Organiser Major James Metcalfe, of Headquarters 16 Air Assault Brigade, said the aim was to “kickstart interest in a sport among our soldiers, to develop the skills that will provide a military capability”.
At the highest end of competition, the Military International Drone Racing Tournament was held at Armoury House in London. The third ever staging of the event, and first in Britain, saw military teams from across the globe race FPV drones over, under and around obstacles at speeds of over 125mph.
Racing drones are built by their operators and their simplicity – a carbon fibre frame with motors on each of four spokes, controlled by three small circuit boards mounted in the middle – is part of their military applicability.
Lieutenant Colonel Karl Eze, a reservist in the Honourable Artillery Company and leader of the tri-service British team, highlighted “the asymmetric capability of the technology”.
Participants sat during a round of the FPV Drone races.
Participants gathered at the Honourable Artillery Company, Armoury House, London for the 3rd ever Military International Drone Racing Tournament and the first to be held in the UK. The Tournament had been organised by Lt Col Karl Eze of the Honourable Artillery Company.
The drones are not simply a packaged product, purchased and flown. Each drone in this Tournament is hand made. Competitors build their own, going to the large online community for assistance but mostly they have learnt by watching “How To” videos on social media.
One of the Competitors, Corporal Luke Crossley of the Royal Engineers for the past 12 years, got into FPV (First Person Video) drone racing as recently as March this year, having done a military course in November the year before, he took the opportunity and built his own drone.
FPV drones differ from the drones you may be more used in that they have none of the ‘bells and whistles’ no gyroscopic stabilisation,
Easily and relatively cheaply assembled in large numbers, FPV drones have proved themselves on the battlefields of Ukraine and the Middle East as a one-way precision strike capability. Carrying small explosive charges, drones’ range of up to 12 miles and agility means they can punch above their weight, such as flying through an open hatch to destroy an armoured vehicle by exploding inside it.
While lacking explosives, the tournament’s spirit of competition was strong, with the Australian Defence Forces team winning and the British finishing a close second. With Chief of General Staff General Sir Roland Walker presenting prizes, the importance of drone technology in how the Army will fight in the future could not have had a stronger endorsement.
Top Photo: A drone operator from 2nd Battalion The Royal Yorkshire Regiment launches the Defendtex D40 drone at Imber Village, Salisbury Plain on 18th September 2024.
Source: British Army