Feb 14, 2026 10:35 PM
(This post was last modified: Feb 14, 2026 10:35 PM by Yazata.)
The Wall Street Journal reports:
(WSJ) - NATO conducted large-scale military exercises in Estonia, the Hedgehog 2025 drills, bringing together more than 16,000 troops from 12 member states, with Ukrainian drone operators serving as a simulated adversary.
The exercise laid bare a sobering conclusion: The Alliance is not ready for a battlefield where drones dominate the sky and make every move visible and vulnerable.
The exercise's goal was to recreate a battlefield packed with threats and constant drone activity, pushing units to operate under pressure and testing how well they could adapt in real time.
From the outset, things did not go smoothly. In one scenario, a NATO battle group of several thousand troops, including a British brigade and an Estonian division, advanced as if the battlefield had not fundamentally changed, effectively ignoring the drone threat as though it did not exist.
“The NATO battle group simply moved around without camouflage, setting up tents and armored vehicles. Everything was destroyed,” said one participant who acted as the opposing force.
According to Aivar Hanniotti, who commanded the roughly 100-strong opposing unit, more than 30 drones were operating in an area of less than 10 square kilometers — only about half the drone density currently seen along Ukraine’s front line.
“There was no possibility to hide. We quite easily found cars and mechanized units, and we were able to take them out quite fast with strike drones”.
Overall, the simulated enemy was able to effectively “eliminate” two battalions in a single day, rendering them combat ineffective, largely thanks to its advantage in drones and their intensive use across the battlefield.
Former commander of Estonia’s Military Intelligence Center, described the results as “shocking” for military officials and personnel, saying the exercise laid bare just how transparent the modern battlefield has become, how exposed any unit or equipment are without proper camouflage, fast data sharing, and tactics adapted to constant drone surveillance.
The more joint exercises NATO conducts while absorbing Ukraine’s battlefield experience, the better. But what matters most is that the Alliance genuinely learns from them: acknowledges its shortcomings, corrects its mistakes, and ensures the lessons are applied in practice rather than allowed to go to waste. This process of learning from Ukraine’s experience should have begun years ago.
(WSJ) - NATO conducted large-scale military exercises in Estonia, the Hedgehog 2025 drills, bringing together more than 16,000 troops from 12 member states, with Ukrainian drone operators serving as a simulated adversary.
The exercise laid bare a sobering conclusion: The Alliance is not ready for a battlefield where drones dominate the sky and make every move visible and vulnerable.
The exercise's goal was to recreate a battlefield packed with threats and constant drone activity, pushing units to operate under pressure and testing how well they could adapt in real time.
From the outset, things did not go smoothly. In one scenario, a NATO battle group of several thousand troops, including a British brigade and an Estonian division, advanced as if the battlefield had not fundamentally changed, effectively ignoring the drone threat as though it did not exist.
“The NATO battle group simply moved around without camouflage, setting up tents and armored vehicles. Everything was destroyed,” said one participant who acted as the opposing force.
According to Aivar Hanniotti, who commanded the roughly 100-strong opposing unit, more than 30 drones were operating in an area of less than 10 square kilometers — only about half the drone density currently seen along Ukraine’s front line.
“There was no possibility to hide. We quite easily found cars and mechanized units, and we were able to take them out quite fast with strike drones”.
Overall, the simulated enemy was able to effectively “eliminate” two battalions in a single day, rendering them combat ineffective, largely thanks to its advantage in drones and their intensive use across the battlefield.
Former commander of Estonia’s Military Intelligence Center, described the results as “shocking” for military officials and personnel, saying the exercise laid bare just how transparent the modern battlefield has become, how exposed any unit or equipment are without proper camouflage, fast data sharing, and tactics adapted to constant drone surveillance.
The more joint exercises NATO conducts while absorbing Ukraine’s battlefield experience, the better. But what matters most is that the Alliance genuinely learns from them: acknowledges its shortcomings, corrects its mistakes, and ensures the lessons are applied in practice rather than allowed to go to waste. This process of learning from Ukraine’s experience should have begun years ago.
