FORT BLISS, Texas — First Army has assumed a crucial role in countering the threat posed by unmanned aircraft systems. It is working with Army Reserve and Army National Guard units to ensure that Component 2 and 3 Soldiers have the tools and skills to win on an emerging battlefield.

Being able to neutralize these threats is an obligation First Army takes seriously, said Col. Douglas Serie, 5th Armored Brigade commander.

“As the Army’s Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System Center of Excellence, we’re the tip of the spear when it comes to developing, validating and delivering the most up-to-date effective training available,” he said. “We’re shaping doctrine, informing procurement and ensuring that the force is equipped not just with the right gear, but the right mindset and tactics to counter drone threats.”

Doing this successfully means working closely and regularly with partnered units, added Maj. Jason Sierakowski, 2-289 Field Artillery executive officer: “We train the First Army OCs in the brigade and then we train the partnered organizations in Compos 2 and 3.”

Sierakowski has seen the mission grow and adapt over the years.

“In 2019, we mobilized the first battery for counter-UAS for compo 2,” he recalled, “2020 was when we mobilized the first unit, where we didn’t have any METS at all.”

That has changed substantially, and as the mission has grown more complex and crucial.

“The biggest thing is coming up with a solid uniform training strategy,” Sierakowksi said. “There are always new things coming out, new tools and techniques, so this just gets added onto it. The biggest success has been the evolution of the training timeline.”

Of note, many of the Soldiers being trained are going beyond their normal areas of expertise.

“The learning curve is very unique because these are troops that can be any MOS,” Sierakowksi said. “They can be anything from a mechanic to a Military Police to anything that you can imagine, and now we tell them, ‘You’re not going to do that role, you’re going to do counter-UAS and you’re going to work in a base defense operations center.’ So they start from the beginning and the learning curve is very steep.”

But they adapt and carry on with the mission, he added: “As we get into repetitions, they become a subject matter expert very quickly, especially when they go forward and deploy on these systems, and that just inherently makes them better.”

Meanwhile, First Army continually adapts and refines its C-UAS role and mission.

“First Army … has become extremely evolutionary and revolutionary within the past two to three years,” Sierakowski said. “Division East has been developing and acquiring different UAS, even 3D printing. The support from the top has been nothing but positive and how can we support the OC/T at the battalion level.”

This success is important on the battlefield, because as Serie noted, the drone threat continues to grow.

“It’s no longer theoretical. It’s real, it’s persistent, and it’s evolving rapidly,” he said. “There are adversaries that are using not only commercial but military grade UAVs to gather intelligence, disrupt our operations, and even deliver kinetic effects. Counter-UAS training is critical to staying ahead of that threat.”

That’s where the continual work and refinement with Reserve Component units pays off.

“It’s a team effort. Our partners are preparing, even before they come to Fort Bliss in a post-mobilization…on how they are going to set up their teams and task-organize their formations so when they get to the center of excellence for counter-UAS, we can go right into training,” Serie said. “We replicate real-world drone threats so our Soldiers face the same challenges in training that they’ll encounter on the battlefield. It’s not just about knowing how to push buttons. It’s about understanding the threat landscape, ROE considerations, and how to integrate C-UAS into a layered defense strategy.”

One reason the threat continually adapts and evolves is because drones are readily available and can be used in a variety of ways.

“These are things being bought off Amazon and used,” Serie said. “You can use it in an observation mode, you can use it in intelligence gathering, you can use it to disrupt operations just by flying it over, because how are you supposed to know what is on that drone? And it can be used to deliver kinetic effects.”

As such, Serie said that the center of excellence does more than react to drones, it trains “to deter, deny and defeat them before they can impact a mission. The UAS threat changes monthly, sometimes even faster. That means our training has to evolve constantly. We’re constantly refining our curriculum based on threat trends, feedback from the field, and lessons learned from combat theaters. Being a center of excellence doesn’t mean we have all the answers. It means we’re constantly asking the right questions and staying agile in our approach to training counter-UAS operations and in getting Soldiers the repetitions to build confidence to go forward.”

The stakes are enormous, Serie added: “This is the future of warfare and if we don’t figure it out know and get it right, Soldiers are going to get hurt.”

As such, the precision approach and attention to detail are paying big dividends. “We’ve trained thousands of warfighters, from infantry squads to brigade staffs, on how to detect, track, and neutralize UAS threats,” Serie said. “Units that come through our pipeline deploy with confidence and a proven playbook for dealing with UAS.”

By Warren W. Marlow