How Ukrainian drone pilots outmatch NATO forces in Sweden war game
AI Analysis
During the Swedish-led Exercise Aurora 26, Ukrainian drone pilots from the 1st Azov Corps and 20th Lubart Brigade decisively outperformed NATO forces, easily identifying and tracking high-value assets like Leopard 2 tanks using commercially available drones (e.g., Mavic). The exercise highlighted a significant capability gap in NATO’s counter-UAS defenses and situational awareness against a drone-proficient adversary.
Key Takeaways
- Ukrainian drone pilots successfully identified and tracked a Leopard 2 tank early in its offensive maneuver.
- The Ukrainian team utilized inexpensive, commercially available drones (specifically, a Mavic) against a highly advanced tank, demonstrating the asymmetry of modern warfare.
- NATO forces attempted to engage the drones with direct fire (anti-tank machine gun), proving largely ineffective and highlighting a lack of appropriate counter-drone tactics.
- The exercise aimed to assess NATO's vulnerability to drone warfare tactics employed by Russia, leveraging the real-world experience of Ukrainian drone operators.
- Participating nations included Sweden, France, the United States, and the Netherlands, all seeking to learn from Ukraine's drone warfare experience.
Why It Matters
This exercise underscores the urgent need for NATO to invest in advanced counter-UAS technologies, improved electronic warfare capabilities, and revised tactics to mitigate the threat posed by even low-cost commercial drones. The demonstrated effectiveness of Ukrainian drone tactics suggests a potential shift in the balance of power on the battlefield, demanding a rapid adaptation by conventional military forces.
How Ukrainian drone pilots outmatch NATO forces in Sweden war game
Meet Ukrainian drone team that demolished NATO forces in war game in Sweden
June 17, 2026 5:20 PM7 min read
Soldiers with the Swedish Army's South Skåne Regiment load blank ammunition into magazines during Exercise Aurora 26 in Sweden, in May 2026. (NATO)
In a light pine forest on Sweden's fortress island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, a state-of-the-art Leopard 2 tank was in trouble.
The tank had barely begun moving out on an offensive mission before it had been spotted and tracked down by a drone belonging to the opposing forces.
Its pilot: 37-year-old Ukrainian reconnaissance drone pilot Kvita, who had, just weeks before, been fighting on positions outside the town of Rodynske in Donetsk Oblast, spotting and destroying very real Russian soldiers in a very real war.
"A soldier got out of the tank, took an anti-tank machine gun and started to shoot at our drone. It looked very funny from the outside," Kvita recalled.
"We were getting closer to it, and the tank started moving backwards and lifting up its main barrel."
The contrast — between a high-end piece of armor belonging to the world's most powerful military alliance and a cheap Chinese-made drone bought online — was bordering on the absurd.
"A tank shooting at a Mavic is like trying to kill a fly with a machine gun."
Ukrainian drone pilot Kvita, from the 20th Lubart Brigade of the National Guard, poses for a portrait at a training ground in eastern Ukraine on May 20, 2026. (Francis Farrell / The Kyiv Independent)
"He thought we could hit him, and that's why he tried to kill us, to shoot at us. But a tank shooting at a Mavic is like trying to kill a fly with a machine gun," Kvita told the Kyiv Independent at a training ground in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
The episode was just one amusing anecdote from Aurora 26, a Swedish-led exercise in May involving Swedish troops and forces from 11 other countries, including France, the United States, and the Netherlands, all countries taking their own steps to try and absorb the lessons of Ukraine's drone war.
For the 15 Ukrainian soldiers from the 1st Azov Corps invited to play the opposing force, the mission was to test how NATO units would fare against a drone-savvy enemy, i.e. Russia.
Soon after their return, the Kyiv Independent spoke to two of the Ukrainian drone pilots involved, both serving in the National Guard's 20th Brigade, better known as Lubart.
"We didn't like the idea of the red duct tape (commonly worn by Russian soldiers in Ukraine), so we didn't wear it," said Kvita.
"But in general, we were OK with playing the Russians, because we understood that's the only way they can learn."
Ukrainian drone pilots Kvita and Kozache, from the 20th Lubart Brigade of the National Guard, at a training ground in eastern Ukraine on May 20, 2026. (Francis Farrell / The Kyiv Independent)
Aurora 26 was not the first case of combat-tested Ukrainian drone teams picking apart NA