Ukrainian drone team overwhelms NATO battalions in Estonia exercise

Yesterday 08:20

By: Dakir Madiha

Ukrainian drone team overwhelms NATO battalions in Estonia exercise

A major NATO military exercise held in Estonia last year exposed significant weaknesses in Western forces’ ability to operate under intense drone warfare conditions, according to firsthand accounts reported by The Wall Street Journal. The findings highlight a widening gap between NATO’s traditional combat doctrine and the realities of modern battlefield tactics demonstrated in Ukraine.

During Exercise Hedgehog 2025, a small group of around 10 Ukrainian drone operators acting as opposing forces simulated the destruction of 17 armored vehicles and carried out 30 mock strikes within roughly half a day. According to the Wall Street Journal report by Jillian Kay Melchior, the simulated attacks effectively neutralized the combat capability of two NATO battalions in a single day.

The exercise took place from May 5 to May 23, 2025, and involved more than 16,000 troops from 12 NATO member states. Ukrainian drone specialists, including personnel deployed directly from the front lines, participated alongside allied forces. The drills featured heavy equipment such as British Challenger 2 tanks, Apache attack helicopters and HIMARS rocket artillery systems.

Aivar Hanniotti, who coordinated unmanned aerial systems for the Estonian Defence League during the exercise, said the opposing drone units were able to eliminate two battalions within a day, rendering them largely combat ineffective under the exercise scenario. NATO forces were unable to neutralize the drone teams, he said.

Hanniotti led an opposing force unit of roughly 100 personnel, composed of Estonian and Ukrainian members, which deployed more than 30 drones over an area of less than 10 square kilometers. He described the battlefield conditions as offering virtually no concealment. Mechanized units and armored vehicles were quickly identified and targeted using strike drones, he told the Wall Street Journal.

The Ukrainian participants also deployed their Delta battlefield management system on Estonian soil for the first time during the exercise. Delta integrates real-time intelligence from drones, satellites, sensors and human sources. Using artificial intelligence, the system processes data, identifies targets and coordinates strike decisions within minutes, significantly accelerating operational tempo.

Major Sten Reimann, a reserve officer who helped coordinate Delta’s participation, told Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR that traditional maneuver tactics involving large convoys moving in daylight are no longer viable in high-drone-density environments. In extreme scenarios, he said, an entire brigade could be lost by nightfall under such conditions.

One participant described NATO units as moving without sufficient camouflage, positioning tents and armored vehicles in ways that made them easily detectable. Under the simulated combat conditions, nearly all were destroyed.

Lieutenant Colonel Arbo Probal, head of the unmanned systems program for the Estonian Defence Forces, noted that the drone density used in the exercise was only about half of what Ukrainian forces currently encounter on active front lines. He said one of the primary goals was to push participating units to reassess their preparedness and avoid complacency in adapting to evolving warfare technologies.

US troops did not take part in Hedgehog 2025. European defense officials declined to comment on the reasons for their absence.

The exercise underscored how rapidly drone warfare and integrated battlefield management systems are reshaping combat dynamics, raising questions within NATO about readiness, doctrine and survivability in future high-intensity conflicts.