Overview
- The U.S. Army’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment led a month-long Flytrap 5.0 exercise in Lithuania that brought together nearly 1,000 U.S., U.K. and partner troops for realistic force-on-force testing of counter-drone, electronic warfare and command-and-control tools.
- British 3 PARA and U.S. Stryker units ran free-play battles that used reconnaissance and one-way attack drones while each side tried to detect, jam or shoot down the other’s aircraft to refine tactics under pressure.
- Soldiers trialed more than 20 systems, including body-worn radio-frequency detectors, the Cortexa Guardian mini radar, handheld DroneGun jammers and the SMASH AI rifle sight, alongside new command-and-control software that built a shared picture of the fight.
- An expeditionary 3D-print team repaired damaged drones on site and fabricated custom brackets for counter-drone gear on Stryker vehicles, which cut wait times for parts and let units field fixes in hours instead of weeks.
- Leaders said lessons from Flytrap 5.0 will shape a triad that links unmanned systems, counter-drone measures and electronic warfare, and they expect future iterations to scale up with denser drone activity and tougher multi-domain threats.