The U.S. Army Got Crushed by Ukraine’s Drone Warriors & Putin’s Maritime Threat

**Mike Baker** (0:00)
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It's Thursday, the 13th of August. Welcome to The President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, and your eyes and ears are on the world stage. Alright, let's get briefed. First up, the US. Army went head to head with Ukraine's battle-hardened drone warriors in a major war game and reportedly got crushed, exposing a potential dangerous weakness in America's preparations for the next modern war. Later in the show, Vladimir Putin threatens to begin seizing European vessels if Western governments target Russia's shadow fleet, raising the risk of a dangerous maritime confrontation. Well, that's what 2026 needed, more confrontation. Plus, foreign troops could soon be deployed inside Lebanon to verify Hezbollah's disarmament under a developing plan backed by Israel and Beirut, assuming that Hezbollah has any intention of disarming, that is. And in today's Back of the Brief, American fuel is pouring into Cuba's emerging private and black markets, where gasoline is now reportedly costing $38 a gallon. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
The US. Army went head to head with some of Ukraine's most experienced drone operators during a major war game in Germany earlier this year. And, well, it did not go very well for the Americans. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ukrainian drone units easily located American troops and armored vehicles during the exercise, allowing them to simulate attacks before the Americans could effectively respond. The exercise was called Combined Resolve. It was conducted in Germany during April and May and brought together forces from the US., Ukraine and NATO partners to practice high-intensity warfare. Among those participating were American troops and armored vehicles from Fort Hood, Texas. Opposing them were Ukrainian operators from the 412th Regiment of Unmanned Systems, better known as Nemesis, one of Ukraine's most experienced drone formations. On paper, well, the Americans had every advantage. Better funded equipment, advanced communications, and the resources of the most powerful military in the world. But the Ukrainians possessed something that the US did not. That would be more than four years of experience fighting on the most drone-saturated battlefield in history. And that experience did prove decisive.
Ukraine's operators used small short-range drones to locate American positions, track their movements and direct simulated attacks against them. The US troops reportedly struggled to conceal their vehicles and protect themselves from the constant overhead surveillance. The result was a brutal demonstration of how warfare has changed. For most of the modern era, a tank's greatest threat was another tank, maybe an attack helicopter or a soldier armed with an anti-tank missile. Today, a relatively inexpensive drone can hover above the battlefield, locate that tank and transmit its coordinates to the artillery. Another drone can then dive directly into its most vulnerable points. And because these drones are small, cheap and deployed in enormous numbers, shooting down every one of them is really not practical. Ukraine has learned to combine reconnaissance drones, attack drones, electronic warfare and artillery into a single fast-moving system. A drone finds the target, its coordinates are transmitted, the weapon is assigned, the strike follows, sometimes within minutes. That process once required multiple layers of command and communication. Ukraine has compressed it dramatically because its soldiers have spent years learning what works through daily trial and error. And that may be the real weakness exposed by the exercise. The Pentagon has spent billions of dollars developing drones and systems designed to defeat them. But the American military remains a massive institution where new weapons and tactics and doctrine can take years to reach troops in the field. Ukraine did not have the luxury of time. Its forces modified drones and rewrote software and adjusted tactics based on what happened on the battlefield the previous day. If the Russians develop a new countermeasure, Ukrainian engineers begin searching for an answer almost immediately. That ability to adapt that field expediency may now be more important than having the most extensive equipment. Ukraine has reportedly produced similar results against British, Swedish and Estonian forces during previous exercises. The lesson is not simply that the US. Army had a bad day. It's that the US and some of NATO's most advanced militaries may not have fully absorbed what Ukraine is demonstrating every day.
Now there are important qualifications here. This was an exercise, not obviously an actual conflict. The US possesses overwhelming air power, long-range weapons, satellite surveillance and electronic warfare capabilities that would not necessarily be represented in a limited battlefield drill. An American armored brigade would not normally fight alone without support from the US. Air Force and the rest of the US military. But in a future conflict with Russia or China, American aircraft may not control the skies. Communications could be disrupted, satellites could be attacked, supply lines could be targeted. US forces could find themselves operating under many of the same conditions that Ukraine faces now.