Pentagon to Host ‘Top Gun’ School for Ukraine-style Attack Drones

Participants from across the military will converge on Camp Atterbury in Indiana next month for a 'Top Gun' school for first-person kamikaze drones—the type that right now are helping Ukrainians defend against invading Russian forces.

Since 2023, the semi-annual Technology Readiness Experimentation, or T-REX event has served as a showcase for new drone prototypes and other emerging weapons technologies that are useful across the services. This year’s will also display human skill in one of the fastest growing areas of warfare: flying first-person viewer, or FPV drones. The demonstrations will simulate combat conditions in urban environments and elsewhere. It’s all part of the newest Pentagon push to attain what military leaders are calling “American drone dominance.”

The Defense Department Office of Research and Engineering, working with the Army and the Indiana National Guard, helps put on T-REX. But Alexander Lovett, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for prototyping and experimentation, said it is relevant to the Navy, Air Force, and Marines as well.

“The services are now standing up FPV drone schools and drone capabilities,” Lovett said at a Pentagon event Wednesday, put on by the Research and Engineering Office. The Top Gun school portion will feature teams and drone pilots facing off against one another, “red versus blue,” and new counter-drone tech, he said.

Photo: The front entrance sign to Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, Indiana - Ashley Roy

Sources: Defense One;