Army Assesses the FD-1 Drone Interceptor in Poland as a Low-Cost Answer to Massed Small Drones
In early November 2026, the U.S. Army conducted Operation Audacious Fury at the Ustka Training Area in Poland, where the Tactics, Integration and Employment Battery of the 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52d Air Defense Artillery Brigade, 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, ran an internal assessment of the FD-1 Interceptor's counter-drone capabilities, launching the interceptor from a SGT Stout vehicle on November 6.
The problem the assessment set out to solve is specific: against Group 1-3 small drones and massed drone swarms, air defenders need a cost-effective, lower-tier kinetic magazine depth rather than expending exquisite missiles. The FD-1 is an interceptor drone flown by an operator wearing first-person-view goggles, and the exercise tested whether it can provide that cheaper layer of fire.
"There are a lot of systems that we can use to get after defeating the massed UAS threats while staying on the right side of the cost-curve, so we don't expend our exquisite munitions ineffectively," said Lt. Col. John Verwiel, the battalion commander, who wants to standardize the training and the engagement process and then field the capability at scale.
Staff Sgt. Felix Aguilar, a platoon sergeant with the battery, said his Soldiers never expected to fly drones when they enlisted as air and missile defense crew members, yet they are now certified on the SGT Stout and flying interceptors into the Baltic Sea. The battery is also developing the tactics, techniques and procedures and a training certification system that can take an operator with no drone experience to proficiency, so its Soldiers can later train other units across U.S. Army Europe and Africa. (Source: U.S. Army)
Source: U.S. Army
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：第5营第4防空炮兵团的 SGT Stout 防空系统在训练中射击，本次在波兰受测的 FD-1 拦截机正是由该营的 SGT Stout 车辆发射。Wikimedia Commons 图片（公共领域，美国陆军）。 / Photo: A SGT Stout air defense system of the 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment during live-fire training; the FD-1 interceptors assessed in Poland are launched from the battalion's SGT Stout vehicles. Image via Wikimedia Commons (public domain, U.S. Army).
