Picturing a sky full of drones over their head, American sailors and Marines teamed with troops from the Latvian Army this month to turn a clearing in the woods into a network of trenches designed specifically to survive attacks from above.
Naval Combat Engineers, or Seabees, from Naval Construction Battalion 14 and Marines from the 8th Engineer Support Battalion took part in an exercise in Skrunda, Latvia to quickly build and reinforce trenches. It was meant to hone their ability to make a defensive position capable of withstanding attacks from enemy drones.
“These field fortifications are built to reduce detection, limit exposure to unmanned systems, and enhance force protection across the battlespace,” said Lt. j.g. Wiatt Lewis, of Naval Construction Battalion (NCB) 14, in a Navy release.
The anti-drone training came during the large-scale annual Baltic Operations, or BALTOPS, a large-scale exercise held mostly at sea or in the air. However, the multi-unit drills around drone threats highlighted the role the machines now play on both battlefields and planning centers.
Small, cheap, and easily modified, uncrewed aerial systems, or UASs, have quickly become a valuable part of modern warfare. They can quickly fly towards a target and either drop munitions or deliver a payload in a one-way attack. UASs can attack in large swarms meant to overwhelm a defensive position.
Militaries, such as the Ukrainian armed forces, have tried several high- and low-tech ways to repel them, from radio jammers to rigging up several Kalashnikovs together as one big anti-air gun.
In many ways, the construction in Skrunda looks — based on photos shared by the Navy — like the kind of trenches soldiers built during World War I. Wooden support beams dot muddy earthworks, with the occasional plank of wood or metal for stable footing for troops. There are some more intricate elements meant to deal with three-dimensional threats, including large overhead beams and a mesh of branches and brush for concealment.
The BALTOPS exercise is primarily focused on naval tactics and skills, but combat engineering has long been a key specialty of both Navy and Marine units.. In this case, on-the-ground construction was sped up thanks to a mobile sawmill that Latvian engineers brought with them.
In Ukraine, networks of trenches were built out and modified in part to deal with the danger of drones in its ongoing war with Russia. Nets are put up to try and snag small quadcopters coming in for attacks, and some earthworks are dug to avoid long linear patterns that could leave troops open to attack from a lateral direction. These modern warfare trenches have also shown how high-tech systems can be integrated into older defenses, with dugouts set up with wireless Internet routers, charging stations, and other tools for cyber and electromagnetic warfare.
Ukraine’s own attack on Russian airfields this month highlighted just how quickly small drones can devastate a fixed position. It also raised concerns about how the United States would be able to defend its bases and forward positions.
Trenches then and now
Combat trenches in World War I were primarily designed to provide protection against artillery bombardments across No Man’s Land, with enemy reconnaissance often dealing with the same elevation and visibility limits. In Latvia, U.S. troops outlined other challenges. The Seabees and Marines said that they now have to be aware of other ways positions could be detected.
“We are always thinking about our visibility from above, the effects of thermal detection, and how to keep the position secure from multiple angles,” Staff Sgt. Austin Leigh, a combat engineer with the 8th Engineer Support Battalion, said in a release.
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