Image: Photo by Lance Cpl. Cody Fitzgerald via Marine Corp ©
The Marine Corps has run its first dedicated counter-small unmanned aerial systems training lanes, integrating the discipline into Service Level Training Exercise 4-26 on 15 July 2026, as per a recent press statement.
Units from the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions built C-sUAS into nearly every training event, aiming to give Marines confidence to deny, detect and defeat enemy drone threats. Gunnery Sgt. Kevin Jares, an instructor with the Tactical Training and Exercise Control Group (TTECG), commented: “Everywhere in the modern world, in all conflicts, the sUAS threat is becoming more prolific on the battlefield.” He added that squads are developing ways to combat the threat using organic weapons.
TTECG’s “Coyotes” ran the exercise, providing risk-managed live-fire training and simulated combat conditions. Marines opened with a three-day C-sUAS evolution combining classroom instruction, practical drills and live-fire lanes, before applying those skills across the rest of SLTE.
A separate three-week course trained operators from TTECG, 7th Marine Regiment and 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion to fly first-person-view drones tactically. Capt. Faith Richardson, a TTECG platoon commander, commented that the pilots gave trainees a realistic threat picture.
Marines countered simulated drones using the M27 rifle, M1014 shotgun, and M32A1 and M320 grenade launchers, engaging targets as close as 20 metres and travelling above 90 miles per hour.
Richardson added that cheap production has made drones more prevalent on modern battlefields, reshaping strike and surveillance dynamics. The Combat Center will continue folding sUAS and C-sUAS into future SLTEs, with participating Marines carrying the tactics back to their home units.
Learn more on the Marine Corp website
