FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — U.S. Army Soldiers training with the 35th Engineer Battalion are learning a new skillset during initial entry training at Fort Leonard Wood — reacting to unmanned aircraft systems on the battlefield.
According to Capt. Raymond Sullivan, Company C, 35th Eng. Bn., commander, warfighters attending advanced individual training to be combat engineers and bridge crewmembers are now learning to react to UAS — allied and enemy.
His company held their final combat engineer field training exercise Jan. 20 to 23, part of which was designed to validate the Soldiers’ counter-UAS skills.
Sullivan said during friendly UAS training, Soldiers performed reconnaissance on an obstacle when they were surprised by a drone flying over them and had to use battle drills to appropriately identify, track and react to the UAS.
For opposing forces, or counter-UAS training, Soldiers were concealed in a secure formation inside vegetation at a maneuver area when a drone simulating a hostile threat suddenly appeared over them. Soldiers were tested on their ability to kinetically defeat, or shoot down, the UAS with direct fire.
Soldiers then had to treat the neutralized drone as an improvised explosive device, and under the guidance of their drill sergeant, interrogate the UAS using a man transportable robotic system.
Sgt. 1st Class Mathew Sblano, with the 1st Engineer Brigade’s Combined Arms Training Equipment Exchange, robotics and UAS integration section, spent the afternoon of Jan. 21 flying a UAS for the opposing forces portion of the FTX.
Sblano said his goal for the day was to simulate an attack as close to reality as possible.
“We treat everything as if it is real. I stay out of the view of the trainees. They won’t see me launch the UAS, so when it appears over them, they can react using the battle drills their drill sergeants have taught them,” Sblano said.
And their reaction was on point.
“They reacted appropriately and notionally shot it out of the sky, so I landed the UAS, allowing them to use their robot to interrogate it,” Sblano added.
Staff Sgt. Tommie Hamilton, Company C, 35th Eng. Bn., drill sergeant, said he was pleased with how his platoon responded to the UAS.
“They did well today,” Hamilton said. “When they got eyes on the drone some of them went to work taking it down, while others readied the robot. I think it was a success.”
Sblano said the addition of UAS reaction training to IET is important because, “We are beyond digging foxholes and creating wire obstacles. The Army is continuously transforming, and this is an introduction to new technologies they will be seeing throughout their warfighting careers.”
Hamilton agreed.
“We are continually coming up with new and creative ways to teach them about potential threats,” Hamilton said.
Capt. Kyle Lammey, Company B, 35th Eng. Bn., commander, said his company was the first in the battalion to integrate UAS reaction training into their schedule, holding their final CEFTX in December.
“Training to defeat UAS reinforces basic Soldier discipline in the field — particularly noise and light discipline and force protection in the form of survivability,” Lammey said. “The integration of drones into training demonstrates a significant fact in multi-domain operations — even if you can’t see an enemy combatant with a rifle, the enemy is still fully capable of closing the distance and engaging you.”
From fighting positions and thermal dissipation to which weapons in the engineer arsenal are best to use in certain climes and situations, Lammey said the training is designed around present-day threats.
Threats Pvt. Richard Shipley, Company C, 35th Eng. Bn., said he now feels prepared to encounter.
“I have a new awareness of what a massive threat UASs are and how they have changed how we fight,” Shipley said. “I feel fortunate to be one of the first Soldiers to have this skillset be part of my U.S. Army Advanced Individual Training foundation.”
| Date Taken: |
01.21.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
01.29.2026 15:29 |
| Story ID: |
557098 |
| Location: |
FORT LEONARD WOOD, MISSOURI, US |
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26 |
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