US military loses to Ukrainian drones in joint exercise as Pentagon struggles to catch up to modern warfare

American forces were overwhelmed by Ukrainian drones during a training exercise that exposed U.S. military vulnerabilities — which have also been exploited to deadly effect by Iran, according to a new report.Ukraine's drone operators easily spotted and defeated U.S. troops and armored vehicles so quickly that they had to be “re-spawned” and sent back into the field to keep the exercise going, The Wall Street Journal said, citing an unidentified U.S. official who was briefed on the matter.An entire U.S. armored brigade was reportedly eliminated at one point in the twice-yearly training, which took place in Germany over two weeks in April and May and is called “Combined Resolve.”Eliot Cohen, a former Pentagon civilian adviser who's now a defense expert at the bipartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, told the Journal that recent battlefield experience has demonstrated the importance of drones in modern warfare.“It is vital that the U.S. military master that, and thus far, unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case,” he said.Recent military training exercises for US forces in Germany show how effectively Ukrainian drone operators, like the one pictured here, perform in combat scenarios (Getty)The White House referred an inquiry from The Independent to the Pentagon, which said to contact the military’s European Command. It didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.A total of 18 U.S. service members have been killed in action since President Donald Trump launched his ongoing war against Iran without congressional approval on Feb. 28.Six soldiers were killed in an Iranian drone strike against a civilian port in Kuwait the following day, and two others were killed in a July 17 drone and missile attack against an air base in Jordan.A ninth soldier was killed in what the Pentagon called the "controlled detonation" of a downed Iranian attack drone at an air base in northern Iraq on July 19.Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told a Senate committee in mid-May that he'd sent military strategists to Ukraine to study drone combat, after Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky referred to the country as the “Silicon Valley of warfare,” The Defense Post reported at the time.Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says he’s sent military strategists to Ukraine to study drone warfare (Getty)“I’ve personally approved additional personnel there to learn from that drone battlefield, both on offense and defense, to ensure that we’re learning every possible lesson from that conflict and incorporating it in real time into how we defend,” Hegseth testified.Hegseth also sent a July 10 memo to the military's top brass in which he acknowledged that U.S. forces didn't have “the lethal small drones that the modern battlefield requires” because America had fallen behind in “harnessing technologies we invented but were slow to pursue.”The joint military exercises in Germany involved about 3,700 U.S troops, mostly from the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, who attacked a ground position reinforced by Ukrainian troops, according to the Journal.The scenario was repeated during the two-week training, and the attacking troops improved their performance as they became more adept at dispersing, concealing themselves and using electronic warfare, an unidentified Army official told the Journal.The Ukrainians also switched sides midway through the exercises and helped the American soldiers effectively use drones for offensive purposes, the official said.The U.S. troops were equipped with standard electronic-warfare and counter-drone systems, and new Mobile Brigade Combat teams have fared better in exercises using the latest gear and tactics, the official said.Training exercises held last year in the Baltic region also resulted in Ukrainian drone operators easily defeating troops from other countries, including the U.K. and Estonia, a person familiar with the matter told the Journal.In addition, Swedish forces and allied Nato troops were defeated by Ukrainian drone operators during exercises held this past spring, the Journal said, citing Swedish media reports.