Ukrainian Pilots Participate in NATO Military Exercises, Drone Offense and Defense Highlight Europe's Military Shortcomings

Reference News Network, May 15 report According to the Associated Press on May 12, the "Aurora 26" joint military exercise is currently taking place in Gotland, Sweden, and other locations. The scenario set for this exercise is that Sweden, as one of NATO's newest member countries, is facing a threat from a certain country that is gathering troops at NATO's eastern border. Unusually, non-NATO member Ukraine is also participating, offering suggestions on drone warfare and issuing serious warnings to NATO.

The report states that Europe is not only facing the threat from Russia but also has to deal with the fluctuating stance of the United States, NATO's most powerful member. This week, the Associated Press was granted permission to observe the military exercise led by Sweden.

This military exercise, which involves U.S. forces, is based on realistic threats. According to an Associated Press investigation, Russia has intensified its sabotage activities against European countries in recent months, including cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and the spread of disinformation.

The scenario set for this exercise is that, theoretically, due to sabotage, Gotland, Sweden, faces power outages and food shortages, with the aim of testing what measures NATO member countries would take before invoking Article 5 of NATO's collective defense clause.

The exercise director, Swedish Navy Rear Admiral Jonas Wikström, stated, "Theoretically, this situation could happen tomorrow."

Swedish Armed Forces Chief of Defense General Micael Bydén pointed out that the U.S. is currently Europe’s most militarily capable ally, so "any changes in U.S. troop presence" will affect the overall situation. He told the Associated Press that U.S. statements regarding troop reductions in Europe are often interpreted by outsiders as "the Americans are pulling out," but in reality, "they are not pulling out."

Bydén denied that recent initiatives—including the plan announced by British First Sea Lord Admiral Gwen Jenkins to form a "mixed navy" with Nordic and Baltic countries along with the UK and the Netherlands—are preparations for a future where the U.S. does not defend NATO allies. However, he stated, "Any initiative that allows European allies to act independently is a good thing."

In this week's exercise scenario, the Ukrainian military was able to showcase its battlefield experience. A 24-year-old Ukrainian drone operator told the Associated Press that a group of Ukrainian drone operators was invited to teach Western forces the winning strategies of drone warfare, and they played the role of aggressors in the exercise, defeating the Swedish forces.

According to Ukrainian military regulations, he was interviewed under the code name "Tarik." He said, "They (Swedish forces) interrupted the exercise three times," allowing the troops to study and improve tactics, but if it were real combat, they would have died early.

Another drone operator, using the code name "Kalat," said that the Swedish military has potential but needs to improve its drone equipment and tactics, and commanders need to deepen their understanding of drone warfare.

He described the experience of operating small first-person view (FPV) attack drones on the front lines. Drone operators sometimes receive support from reconnaissance drone teams, but at times they can only "fight blindly." He added that Western forces cannot understand this feeling, "you have to see it to understand."

Bydén stated that all Western forces need to "learn quickly" the skills of drone and counter-drone warfare, and the "fastest" way is to learn from Ukraine.

U.S. Brigadier General Curtis King stated, "What they (Ukrainian drone forces) teach us is that we must place a high priority on our own survivability and concealment." At the same time, he pointed out that Western countries need to focus on developing "long-range" detection capabilities to identify drones from a distance.

King stated that the goal is to achieve system interoperability, integrating radars made by different countries and companies to enable data sharing and threat tracking. He noted that the relevant integration work has already begun but "is not yet complete."

This military exercise focuses on Gotland Island, as it is located in a strategic area of the Baltic Sea, situated between the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad (where Moscow has deployed missiles) and Sweden. Bydén believes that "one very likely scenario" is that Russia may use Gotland to test NATO's collective defense response. (Translation/ Liu Zongya)