US Army Live-Fire Demonstration at Grafenwoehr Showcases Drone Swarms and Armed Robot Vehicles
The US Army held a live-fire demonstration of unmanned systems, including drone swarms and armed robotic vehicles, at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany on November 12, 2026. The demonstration was run by the DEVCOM Armaments Center together with US Army Europe and Africa and the 7th Army Training Command, according to an Army release distributed through DVIDS.
During the demonstration, a TRV-150 drone dropped smoke on a target. A swarm launched from an HIV3 swarm drone launcher mounted on an unmanned ground vehicle called R3NEGADE then carried out an autonomous strike. Separately, soldiers of the 173rd Airborne Brigade hit a target with a first-person-view drone.
A second R3NEGADE carried a remotely operated weapon station fitted with a Javelin missile. A TRV-400 equipped with the developmental FIR3FLY anti-armour capability was on static display as part of a containerised system designed to store drones and deploy them remotely.
Alex Tomosieski, programme manager for the Remote Rapid Response Autonomous Contingency Team (R3ACT), spoke about pre-positioning modular platforms in containers. Troy Brannon, the Expanded Maneuver-Air portfolio lead who led the demonstration, called it "the art of the possible" and called for "scalable, cheap, affordable, lethal options". Command Sgt. Maj. Thinh Huynh of the 173rd Airborne Brigade and drone operator Sgt. Dean Aguirre spoke about soldiers being involved from the start.
According to an Army photo caption, the demonstration supports NATO integration under the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative, and the test was presented as supporting "strike" and "endurance" in the Army's "How the Army Fights" framework. The release describes an evaluation and technology demonstration, not a procurement decision, and gives no figures for cost, range or the number of systems.
Source: U.S. Army
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：一名美军士兵在 Grafenwoehr 训练区演示中准备一架小型蜂群无人机。摄影：Thomas Dixon 下士，美国陆军，经 DVIDS 发布，公共领域。 / Photo: A U.S. soldier prepares a small swarm drone during the demonstration at Grafenwoehr Training Area. Credit: Cpl. Thomas Dixon, U.S. Army, via DVIDS, public domain.
