Marines are Training Fireteams to Deploy Combat Drones

Lance Cpl. Christian Gillham, a mortarman and team leader with 3rd Littoral Combat Team, 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, flies a first-person view unmanned aircraft system for a long-range simulated strike during the Marine Corps Attack Drone Competition at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Aug. 11, 2026. US Marine Corps photo The Marine Corps on Friday wrapped up the inaugural Marine Corps Attack Drone Competition at Marine Corps Base (MCB) Quantico, Va., capping a summer of drone firsts for the service. Drones also played a part in Marine Corps exercises in Korea and Australia and new counter-small unmanned aerial systems (C-sUAS) training lanes opened at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.

The activities follow the July activation of the Marine Corps Robotics Integration Group (MCRIG), a service-level organization responsible for integrating, standardizing and institutionalizing training for Group 1 and Group 2 sUAS and C-sUAS

A Marine Corps release stated that Marines from 3rd Littoral Combat Team and 4th Marine Division conducted strike planning and execution, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance integration, urban and night operations, long-range strikes and moving-target engagement in the Marine Corps Attack Drone Competition, which was hosted by Weapons Training Battalion, Training Command starting Aug. 10.

The teams were required to synchronize multiple attack drones against separate targets nearly simultaneously. An opposing force located and tracked teams, requiring the competitors to manage their signatures and respond to the threat while completing their missions.

“Being on the receiving end of the weapon system we’re trained to employ was humbling, to say the least,” said Lance Cpl. Georgino Perez, an infantryman with 3rd Littoral Combat Team and First Person View (FPV) drone pilot, in the release, “It highlighted the need for more training, not only on how to employ these systems, but how to survive against them.”

The competition also provided Weapons Training Battalion with insight into how to enhance current attack drone training, which will include long-range aerial navigation, time-on-target planning, hide-site and antenna management, emergency protective actions, escape and evasion and signature management.FPV operators from 4th Marine Division won the competition.

“The experience gained at the championship is important to the Marine Corps’ train-the-trainer model,” said Col. Charles E. Anklam III, commanding officer of Weapons Training Battalion. “Marines who develop proficiency through advanced training and competition can take those lessons back to their units and help build more capable attack drone teams throughout the Fleet.”

Neros Archer first-person view drones are organized during the Marine Corps Attack Drone Competition at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, March 12, 2026. US Marine Corps photo Next year’s competition is expected to introduce a dedicated opposing force and electronic warfare effects while increasing engagement distances to as much as 20 km, according to the release. Future iterations, it added, will build on this year’s lessons and further test teams’ ability to employ attack drones in a contested environment.

Photographs included with the release showed Neros Archer FPV drones which the Marine Corps contracted for in November 2025 for deployment across the Fleet Marine Force. The service has deployed the Neros Archer drones in exercises in South Korea and Australia.

In South Korea, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, successfully concluded the Marine Corps’ first-ever series of live-fire FPV attack drone flights on Aug. 5 with Neros Archers. The drones executed precise anti-armor and anti-personnel explosive strikes as part of Korean Marine Exercise Program (KMEP) 26.2, which ran from Jul. 28 to Aug. 8. KMEP is a regular series of joint bilateral training exercises in South Korea between the Marine Corps and its Republic of Korea Marine Corps counterpart.

A Marine Corps release stated the training events included an inaugural range conducted on Jul. 30 by 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (LAR), followed by a second iteration on August 5 by 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment. Both units are forward-deployed to the Indo-Pacific and assigned to 4th Marine Regiment under the Marine Corps Unit Deployment Program which rotates U.S.-based Marine Corps units for six months deployments overseas.

The release said that small drone platforms like the Neros Archer give the Marines at the squad and platoon level a modern, cost-effective alternative to many larger firing platforms that are not organic to smaller units.

“Equipping our Marines with FPV attack drones give[s] us a useful tool that provides an additional kinetic option for us to use,” said 1st Lt. Evan Brace, a company executive officer with 3rd LAR, in the release. “This capability allows units down to the fireteam level to possess organic, precise fires capable of shaping their battlespace.”

In Australia, Marine Rotational Force – Darwin (MRF-D) 26 used multiple organic drone assets for the first time to enhance logistical reach and lethality during exercise Predators Run 26 which ran from Jul. 20-27 in Queensland, Australia.

A MRF-D release stated that on Jul. 23, the unit transported temperature-controlled simulated blood using a TRV-150 tactical resupply unmanned aircraft system (TRUAS) working alongside medical personnel from the Australian Army’s 2nd Brigade. Marines with MRF-D’s logistics combat element attached refrigerated blood to the TRUAS and flew it more than two kilometers to the task force’s primary medical facility, highlighting the interoperability between the Marines and the Australian Army.

Following the successful blood transfer, MRF-D launched two Neros Archer drones during a simulated live-fire platoon attack to conduct two strikes on simulated, static armored personnel carriers.

Along with deploying sUAS for attacks, the Marine Corps is also implementing drone defense training, launching it’s first-ever C-sUAS training lanes during Service Level Training Exercise 4-26 on Jul. 15 at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif..

According to a Marine Corps release, participating units from 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions implemented C-sUAS in nearly every training event to ensure Marines can confidently deny, detect, and defeat the threat of enemy sUAS.

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Nicholas Price, a mortarman with 3rd Littoral Combat Team, 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, 3rd Marine Division prepares a first-person view unmanned aircraft system for a long-range simulated strike during the Marine Corps Attack Drone Competition at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Aug. 11, 2026. US Marine Corps photo “Everywhere in the modern world, in all conflicts, the sUAS threat is becoming more prolific on the battlefield,” said U.S. Marine Corps Gunnery Sgt. Kevin Jares, an instructor with Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group (TTECG). “We’re figuring out ways, with the squad’s organic weapons, to combat that threat and [determine] how to survive in today’s modern battlefield.”

Marines from TTECG, 7th Marine Regiment, and 3rd LAR carried out a three-week sUAS operator training course qualifying them to operate the sUAS that would be used in the C-sUAS training. The 7th Marine Regiment and 3rd LAR subsequently deployed to South Korea for KMEP.

Marines began SLTE with a three-day training evolution on C-sUAS lanes, which involved classroom instruction and practical application and culminated with live-fire lanes.Participants developed the basic skillset to apply the C-sUAS mindset to all subsequent SLTE training events. Throughout the evolution, TTECG integrated realistic enemy sUAS threats to drive the development of C-sUAS.

“The intent of the C-sUAS lanes was to build the confidence of our Marines to target sUAS and complete the mission,” said Capt. Faith Richardson, a platoon commander with TTECG, in the release.

To combat enemy sUAS, the Marines in SLTE employed the M27 infantry automatic rifle firing 5.56 mm rounds and the M1014 combat shotgun firing 12-gauge shells along with M32A1 and M320 grenade launchers firing low-velocity 40-mm anti-personnel rounds, as well as electronic warfare. Throughout the training, Marines engaged simulated enemy sUAS from as close as 20 m with sUAS flying at speeds over 90 miles per hour, according to the release.

The Marines’ performance combatting sUAS over SLTE showed promising results, stated the release. The Marines will continue to implement and perfect C-sUAS through tactics, techniques, and procedures established by TTECG, which will be developed and refined through more training and development, it added, promising training at the Combat Center will continue to include sUAS and C-sUAS in future SLTEs.