EU militaries game out Ukraine-inspired resupply tactics via drones

ROME — As supplies are rushed to the front line in Ukraine using unmanned aerial and terrestrial platforms, the European Defense Agency has brought manufacturers and militaries together at an Italian training site to ensure Europe has the right kit and doctrine – as soon as possible – to do the same thing.

Unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles were sent into action at an exercise near Rome organized by the EDA to spark better dialogue between the developers of new platforms and the soldiers that need them.

The first-ever European Defence Innovation Operational Experimentation (OPEX) campaign, was designed to bring what the EDA called the “valley of death,” where industry research and innovation stall and die before getting into the hands of militaries.

“The war in Ukraine reshaped our understanding of defense innovation, compressing years of development into weeks through rapid prototyping, adaptability, and tight collaboration among armed forces, engineers, and civilians,” said André Denk, EDA’s chief executive at the event.

“Accelerating innovation from the lab to the field is our ticket to operational relevance,” he added.

The exercise at the Italian army’s Montelibretti facility showed off aerial and terrestrial platforms from six companies.

Portugal’s Beyond Vision, Greece’s Altus LSA and Austria’s Schiebel fielded UAVs while Spain’s Alysis, Poland’s Piap and Germany’s Arx Robotics showed off UGVs.

As UGVs scrambled in and out of water filled ditches they were watched by military officials from Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Cyprus and Greece.

Three weeks of technical trials at Montelibretti which wrapped up on July 3 will be followed by operational trials at the Italian army’s facility at Nettuno, also Rome.

“We are missing a link between research and development and end users, and this exercise was a chance for militaries to see the technology in action and understand the possibilities for tactics and doctrine,” said an EDA official.

“Ukrainian experts have helped us design scenarios for the use of the technology and the EDA will create a blueprint to show armies how they can quickly integrate it,” added the official.

The exercise involved showing how supplies could be dropped off by UAV and transferred to a UGV for a final journey to a front line.

The official said such experimentation was underway at the national level in Europe using local firms.

“We are now showing armies systems they don’t know about and increasing discussions and lessons for the first time,” the official said.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——随着物资通过无人机和地面平台紧急运往乌克兰前线，欧洲防务局已将制造商和军方聚集在意大利的一个训练基地，以确保欧洲尽快拥有合适的装备和理论，以采取同样的行动。

欧洲防务局在罗马附近组织了一次演习，无人机和无人地面车辆投入使用，旨在促进新平台开发者和需要这些平台的士兵之间更好地对话。

首个欧洲防务创新作战实验 (OPEX) 活动旨在打破欧洲防务局 (EDA) 所称的“死亡谷”，即工业研究和创新在被军队采用之前停滞不前甚至消亡的阶段。

“乌克兰战争重塑了我们对国防创新的理解，通过快速原型制作、适应能力以及武装部队、工程师和平民之间的紧密合作，将多年的发展压缩到几周之内，”欧洲防务局首席执行官安德烈·登克在活动上表示。

他补充说：“加速将实验室的创新成果转化到实际应用中，是我们实现运营相关性的关键。”

在意大利陆军蒙特利布雷蒂基地举行的演习中，六家公司的空中和地面平台进行了展示。

葡萄牙的 Beyond Vision、希腊的 Altus LSA 和奥地利的 Schiebel 展示了无人机，而西班牙的 Alysis、波兰的 Piap 和德国的 Arx Robotics 则展示了无人地面车辆。

当无人地面车辆在注满水的沟渠中穿梭时，来自意大利、奥地利、德国、法国、比利时、塞浦路斯和希腊的军方官员都在注视着它们。

在蒙特利布雷蒂进行的为期三周的技术试验已于 7 月 3 日结束，之后将在位于罗马内图诺的意大利陆军基地进行作战试验。

“我们缺乏研发与最终用户之间的联系，而这次演习让各国军队有机会看到这项技术的实际应用，并了解其在战术和理论方面的可能性，”EDA 的一位官员表示。

这位官员补充说：“乌克兰专家帮助我们设计了该技术的使用场景，欧洲防务局将制定一份蓝图，向军队展示如何快速整合该技术。”

此次演习旨在展示如何利用无人机投放物资，并将其转移到无人地面车辆上，最终运送到前线。

该官员表示，欧洲各国正在利用当地企业进行此类试验。

这位官员说：“我们现在正在向军队展示他们不了解的系统，并首次增加了讨论和经验分享。”

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。