The Spanish Army wins the first United States Army drone competition in Europe

The Legion is one of the most admired units in the Spanish Army, and is especially known for its high level of training.

Spanish soldiers in a United States Army snipers competition
Latvia shows two Spanish A400Ms in a large BRIPAC jump in that country

That level was demonstrated again this week in a competition organized by the Seventh Army Training Command (7ATC): the Best Drone Warfighter Competition, which took place from December 8 to 10 at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany.

This is the first time the U.S. Army has organized this competition. The 7th Air Combat Team announced yesterday that the objective of this event was "to test and showcase unmanned aerial system operator capabilities, and serve as a visible culmination of experimentation, readiness and transformational warfighting initiatives to ensure participating U.S., allied and partner soldiers are trained, tested and ready to deploy modern UAS capabilities in complex operational environments."

Brigadier General Terry Tillis, commander of 7ATC, stated: "It’s not just about flying UAS. It’s about utilizing the UAS as integrated enablers to achieve desired effects. It's about UAS facilitating the combined arms maneuvers of our ground forces into a position of advantage so they can seize and hold terrain."

Teams from the United States, Spain, and Italy participated in this first competition. Most of the teams were American, belonging to US Army units permanently stationed or temporarily deployed in Europe. The European military units that participated in the competition were the X Bandera "Millán Astray" of the Tercio "Alejandro Farnesio" 4th of the Legion, based in Ronda (Málaga), and the 41st IMINT Regiment "Cordenons" of the Italian Army, based in Trieste.

The 7ATC explained: "Each team has two to six Soldiers, including a short-range reconnaissance drone team and a first-person view drone team. Teams are scored over three days of graded activities including a written UAS knowledge exam, and two training scenarios conducted on a variety of Soldier skills within a time limit."

One of the competition lines "focuses on their tactic abilities to carry out an aerial reconnaissance and strike mission using a variety of small UAS platforms against an enemy force in an urban environment, including establishing camouflage and security", according to the 7ATC. The other line "tests aerial land navigation, accuracy and maneuverability of a first-person view drone through an obstacle course to clear and secure a trench, as well as team cohesion on decision making during a call-for-fire mission."

In the competition, the participating teams used drones they designed and built themselves, including variations of the Skydio x2d, ORQA FPV, DJI Mavic, DJI Avata, Vantage Vesper, and Purpose Built Attritable System (PBAS), according to the 7ATC. The photos you see in this article were published by the US Army and show the members of the Spanish team at different stages of this competition.

As we can see, Ghillie-type camouflage suits were used in the competition, very common among snipers and which have also spread to tactical drone operators, since they provide them with much-needed camouflage against enemy unmanned aircraft.

In the competition photos, all the teams are carrying replicas of the M4 carbines, supplied by the US Army.

This Thursday, the U.S. Army announced that the Spanish Army team won this competition. The winning team consisted of five members of the 10th Legion Battalion and one member of the Engineer Corps. These images show them receiving their trophies, which include the U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) emblem featuring a flaming sword.

It should be a source of pride for the Spanish Army to have won this competition, surpassing eight teams from the best-prepared army in the world and the one with the most advanced technological tools, which is that of the United States.

Second place went to the team from the 1st Battalion of the 4th Infantry Regiment of the US Army, a unit attached to the 7th Air Transport Command and known as the "One-Four OPFOR" (I already told you about them here), as it is made up of highly trained soldiers who act as an opposing force in the Hohenfels Training Area in southern Germany. Third place went to the team from the 2nd Cavalry Regiment of the US Army, based in Vilseck, Germany.

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Photos: U.S. Army.