Army Shuts Down the Europe Drone Battalion Built to Learn From Ukraine, a Year After Standing It Up

An Army official confirmed to CBS News on Aug. 20 that the service will phase out the Unmanned Assault Battalion, a unit in the 173rd Airborne Brigade created last year to absorb drone-warfare lessons from Ukraine. After an exercise running through September, it will "refocus on its core warfighting tasks as an airborne infantry battalion." Current and former officials told CBS the move came amid long-running tension between acting Army Chief of Staff Gen. Christopher LaNeve and the unit's champions, former chief of staff Gen. Randy George and former Army Europe commander Gen. Christopher Donahue, both since removed.

Standing a specialized unit up and dissolving it within a year raises the question of whether force-structure decisions track battlefield lessons or personnel changes at the top.

LaNeve published a vision document this week emphasizing fundamentals alongside counter-drone capability. The Army declined to comment beyond confirming the shutdown.