Latest news with #MarcusEvans
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
Inside the US Army's Pacific war prep, from unfamiliar aircraft landings to drone warfare
The US Army is training with the Philippines on new tech, weapons, and tactics. That includes flying and landing aircraft in unfamiliar locations in varying western Pacific weather. Keeping troops alive in the environment and giving them the latest drones is also key. Out in the islands of the western Pacific, the US Army and a strategic ally are landing aircraft in places they don't know, testing new drones and sensors, and trying to keep soldiers hidden in the electromagnetic spectrum. The training is focused on adapting to the quickening pace of innovation on the battlefield, a general told Business Insider. In the Philippines, soldiers from Hawaii's 25th Infantry Division are conducting their annual Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center- Exportable exercise. The division and its Philippine counterparts, about 2,000 personnel, are preparing for the possibility of a conflict in the Pacific. The threat of a war with China is at the forefront of US military thinking about the region. The environment poses the biggest challenge. This area is largely tropical, mostly water with islands scattered about. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, commander of the division, said temperatures are high and soldiers are grappling with the rain, wind, and humidity from monsoon season. These environmental factors are impacting how drones operate and how troops sustain themselves. The exercise stretches across land, air, and sea, among other combat domains, and the operations are testing soldiers. "Each and every day, they are having to fly in varying terrain to different helicopter landing zones working around the different weather patterns," Evans said of the air operations. Some pilots are flying in temperatures and landing on terrain with which they are unfamiliar. On the ground, troops are learning to drive infantry squad vehicles that can move over sand and through jungles. The vehicles carry everything soldiers will need when they're alone in the environment — more water, food, and power are priorities. At an exercise last year, troops were given bottled water. Now, they're working with a purification system that allows them to draw water from rivers and streams. Among the weapons they're working with are emerging technologies like drones, which come with challenges. They're flying shorter distances and for less time due to the temperature and weather. Soldiers are also working with counter-uncrewed aerial systems, reconnaissance and electronic warfare capabilities, and technology to help obscure or hide signatures from enemies. Much of it is a glimpse at what soldiers would need in the future war. The exercise is a sort of stress-test, not just not on the vehicles, aircraft, weapons, and systems, but also the individual soldier. They're operating the drones across formations, using counter-UAS systems to defeat enemy drones, and looking at the electromagnetic spectrum to keep hidden. It's also an opportunity for troops to innovate from the bottom up. Warfare technology is moving at breakneck speeds — urging, as Evans said, the need to be more agile in employing them but also knowing the threats and how to defend against them. He told BI about one soldier who was flying a first-person view drone. They used a medium-range reconnaissance drone to "serve as a pathfinder," effectively navigating the FPV drone behind the reconnaissance one to have a better sense of the battlefield and get in a position to strike enemy targets. "No one had talked to him about [that], trained him on [it], but he was innovating with the equipment that he was given," Evans said. In Evans' view, having the soldiers out there working with and learning from the Philippine Army is crucial. "The longer we stay in the field, the more things that we can stress, the more things we test out and understand the true limitations in this kind of harsh environment," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
20 hours ago
- Business Insider
Inside the US Army's Pacific war prep, from unfamiliar aircraft landings to drone warfare
The US Army is training with the Philippines on new tech, weapons, and tactics. That includes flying and landing aircraft in unfamiliar locations in varying western Pacific weather. Keeping troops alive in the environment and giving them the latest drones is also key. Out in the islands of the western Pacific, the US Army and a strategic ally are landing aircraft in places they don't know, testing new drones and sensors, and trying to keep soldiers hidden in the electromagnetic spectrum. The training is focused on adapting to the quickening pace of innovation on the battlefield, a general told Business Insider. In the Philippines, soldiers from Hawaii's 25th Infantry Division are conducting their annual Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center- Exportable exercise. The division and its Philippine counterparts, about 2,000 personnel, are preparing for the possibility of a conflict in the Pacific. The threat of a war with China is at the forefront of US military thinking about the region. The environment poses the biggest challenge. This area is largely tropical, mostly water with islands scattered about. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, commander of the division, said temperatures are high and soldiers are grappling with the rain, wind, and humidity from monsoon season. These environmental factors are impacting how drones operate and how troops sustain themselves. The exercise stretches across land, air, and sea, among other combat domains, and the operations are testing soldiers. "Each and every day, they are having to fly in varying terrain to different helicopter landing zones working around the different weather patterns," Evans said of the air operations. Some pilots are flying in temperatures and landing on terrain with which they are unfamiliar. On the ground, troops are learning to drive infantry squad vehicles that can move over sand and through jungles. The vehicles carry everything soldiers will need when they're alone in the environment — more water, food, and power are priorities. At an exercise last year, troops were given bottled water. Now, they're working with a purification system that allows them to draw water from rivers and streams. Among the weapons they're working with are emerging technologies like drones, which come with challenges. They're flying shorter distances and for less time due to the temperature and weather. Soldiers are also working with counter-uncrewed aerial systems, reconnaissance and electronic warfare capabilities, and technology to help obscure or hide signatures from enemies. Much of it is a glimpse at what soldiers would need in the future war. The exercise is a sort of stress-test, not just not on the vehicles, aircraft, weapons, and systems, but also the individual soldier. They're operating the drones across formations, using counter-UAS systems to defeat enemy drones, and looking at the electromagnetic spectrum to keep hidden. It's also an opportunity for troops to innovate from the bottom up. Warfare technology is moving at breakneck speeds — urging, as Evans said, the need to be more agile in employing them but also knowing the threats and how to defend against them. He told BI about one soldier who was flying a first-person view drone. They used a medium-range reconnaissance drone to "serve as a pathfinder," effectively navigating the FPV drone behind the reconnaissance one to have a better sense of the battlefield and get in a position to strike enemy targets. "No one had talked to him about [that], trained him on [it], but he was innovating with the equipment that he was given," Evans said. In Evans' view, having the soldiers out there working with and learning from the Philippine Army is crucial. "The longer we stay in the field, the more things that we can stress, the more things we test out and understand the true limitations in this kind of harsh environment," he said.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Climate
- Time of India
Drone disaster? Famed U.S. Army faces backlash as equipment fails in hot weather and heavy rain
Drone operations by the U.S. Army are running into problems that aren't caused by enemy fire. The harsh tropical weather in the Pacific is what is keeping important equipment from working. While working together with the Philippines, American troops are rushing to make technology work in bad weather. Why are U.S. Army drones failing in the Pacific? According to a top officer, the US Army's drone arsenal is facing some difficulties due to the hot and humid weather in the Western Pacific, as per a report by Business Insider. The Army and its Philippine counterparts are currently training for what a war in the Indo-Pacific might entail in the Philippines as part of the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center-Exportable exercise. It's all part of getting ready for future wars in the Indo-Pacific. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo ALSO READ: Apple Worldwide Developers Conference WWDC 2025: Date, time, keynote address and how to watch event live Army Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, the commander of the 25th Infantry Division based in Hawaii, claimed that the heat and regional weather patterns are the main problems with drone operations in this region, BI reported. Live Events In the Philippines, extreme heat (up to 90 degrees Fahrenheit) affects drone performance, specifically battery life, limiting the range and duration of drone flights. Battery technology is similarly affected by cold climates, such as Alaska's Arctic tundra. Certain UAVs' ability to take off and land vertically can occasionally be impacted by wind and rain. Southeast Asia is experiencing the monsoon season, which means there is constant humidity and a lot of rain. They've observed a decrease in their flying endurance and distance, stated Evans. According to him, his soldiers must become "accustomed to the endurance levels of the unmanned aerial systems" in this area "so that they can integrate those into tactical plans." What solutions are troops testing in real time? US soldiers have been working on immediate solutions, such as swarming drones, flying more drones, or locating new drone launch sites. While launching multiple drones or swarming them reduces the reliance on a single drone for mission execution, different regions may experience varying weather and temperatures. For these capabilities, this type of adaptive work is taking place throughout the division, not just in a single brigade or formation. The 25th Infantry Brigade was only utilizing small drones, which have a range of roughly three to five kilometers depending on the situation, during a training in Hawaii last fall. What role does the Army's 'Transformation in Contact' program play? The learn-in-the-moment strategy aligns with the Army's Transformation in Contact program, which expedites soldiers' integration, testing, and improvement of new weapons before incorporating the input into operational planning. 3D printing for first-person view drones is one more recent addition to the ongoing training. Drone warfare and other technologies can be learned from the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. In particular, Philippine soldiers can learn a lot about fighting in the Pacific. FAQs What is causing the US Army's drone issues in the Pacific? Extreme heat, humidity, and monsoon rains are reducing drone range and efficiency. How are soldiers dealing with these technical failures? They are flying multiple drones, adjusting launch zones, and even 3D printing parts to ensure mission readiness.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Seeing farther, striking deeper, this brigade is pushing its drones
Soldiers with the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division are in the midst of a training exercise with Philippine allies that has them pushing farther and striking deeper with the help of new drones. The 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, is forward deployed in the Philippines, training with the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Armed Forces as part of a Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center, or JPMRC, exercise. Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, 25th Infantry Division commanding general, told Army Times on Monday that the most challenging part of the exercise so far has been the environmental factors. High temperatures and monsoon conditions have slammed troops as they've operated across islands and jungles in the Luzon area of the Philippines. The exercise marks the brigade's second evolution of the Army's Transformation in Contact, or TIC, initiative following its first evolution in 2024. As part of the initiative, which seeks to modernize and evolve formations as they prepare for real-world deployments, soldiers received new drones, counter-drone equipment and electronic warfare tools. First armor brigade conducts combat training center rotation with new tools Since then, the unit has been issued farther-reaching drones with both medium- and long-range capabilities, giving soldiers nearly 10 times the range of previous drones. Last year, units were limited to about a 3-kilometer distance for drones to scout enemy locations. Now they can see, sense and strike targets as far as 30 kilometers out, Evans said. 'It creates increased survivability,' Evans said of the striking range. 'It enhances their ability to protect themselves with greater standoff and strike with loitering munitions or weaponized drones.' Meanwhile, the brigade also brought 3D printing capabilities, which it has used to make replacement parts for equipment and build nearly 50 first-person-view drones so far during the exercise, he said. The brigade brought an estimated 2,000 soldiers from Hawaii and Guam for the exercise, with Philippine partners bringing about the same amount of manpower. They're facing off against a simulated battalion-size enemy force equipped with its own drone, counter-drone and electronic warfare capabilities. During its Philippine rotation last year, which was also an exportable combat training center evolution, the brigade didn't have infantry squad vehicles. This time, however, it does, and the vehicles have made a major difference for troops in both mobility and sustainability, Evans said. The Army's TIC initiative first focused on the brigade level with dismounted units. The second iteration is looking to make similar changes in mechanized or armor formations. That also ties in division-level assets. On this run for the 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team, the 25th Infantry Division is using its headquarters to simulate a larger force and bringing division assets, such as long-range fires, to the brigade. Troops are also using the 25th Infantry Division headquarters to synchronize and integrate with the Philippine's 7th Infantry Division headquarters, Evans said. '[Their] main objective is procedural interoperability,' Evans said. 'U.S. and Philippine forces train sustainment, movement and maneuver together. See further, sense better and be able to strike.' Following the initial field training, the units will gather at Fort Magsaysay, Philippines, and then conduct a combined maritime, land and air movement of more than 400 kilometers into 'enemy' territory north of the outpost to Camp Melchor F. dela Cruz in mid-June, he said.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
US Army drone pilots are facing a hot and rainy headache in the Pacific
Army drones are flying shorter distances with less power due to Pacific heat and weather, a US Army general said. A joint exercise with the Philippines is helping the Army address those challenges. Solutions include more drones, drone swarms, and 3D printing capabilities. The hot and rainy weather in the Western Pacific is presenting some challenges for the US Army's drone arsenal, a top officer told Business Insider. In training, American drone operators have been working with allies to find solutions and adapt their uncrewed aerial systems to the operating environment. US troops are currently going through the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center-Exportable exercise in the Philippines, where the Army and their Philippine counterparts are training for what a war in the Indo-Pacific could look like. About 2,000 personnel are participating in the exercise. When it comes to drone activities in this area of operations, the primary issues, Army Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans, the commander of the 25th Infantry Division out of Hawaii, told BI, are the heat and local weather patterns. A key aspect of the training is testing how technologies like drones, counter-drone systems, reconnaissance capabilities, infantry squad vehicles, and aircraft work in conditions specific to that environment. In the Philippines, hot temperatures upward of 90 degrees Fahrenheit impact the function of drones, namely the battery power, meaning operators can't fly them as far or long. Cold climates, like those of the Arctic tundra in Alaska, have similar effects on battery technology. Rain and winds, too, sometimes affect the vertical takeoff and landing capabilities of some UAVs. It's monsoon season in Southeast Asia, meaning heavy rainfall and humidity are incessant. "Generally, we've seen a reduction in the distance they can fly and the endurance for which they can fly," Evans explained. He said his troops are having to get "accustomed to what the endurances are on the unmanned aerial systems" in this region "so then we can integrate those into tactical plans." Immediate solutions that US soldiers have been working on include finding new locations to launch drones, flying more of them, or swarming them. Different areas may experience different weather and temperatures while launching multiple drones or swarming them leaves operators less dependent on a single drone for executing a mission. This kind of adaptive work is happening across the division, not just in one formation or a brigade for these capabilities. At a training in Hawaii last fall, the 25th Infantry Brigade was only using small drones with ranges of about three to five kilometers depending on the environment. Now, they're working with medium-range and long-range reconnaissance capabilities that help formations see out to roughly 30 kilometers. The learn-in-the-moment approach is in line with the Army's Transformation in Contact initiative, a program that streamlines the process for soldiers to integrate, test, and improve on new weapons and then, in turn, implement the feedback into operational planning. One of the newer elements being implemented in the ongoing training is 3D printing for first-person view drones. It's useful, Evans said, for making most of the components and then either building a new drone or repairing others. Evans said conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East were also providing lessons on drone warfare and other technologies. There's much to be learned, too, from Philippine soldiers specifically with regard to fighting in the Pacific. Earlier this year, Washington and Manila participated in their annual, three-week-long Balikatan exercise, testing anti-ship, anti-air, and coastal defense drills simulating real-world combat. Evans said that the longer US soldiers are in this environment, "the more that we're going to understand about our ability to sustain a force and interoperate with a partner fore like the Philippine Army in this environment." Read the original article on Business Insider
