Army Soldiers test palm-sized drones in urban combat race competition

The palm-sized drones that once might have been judged only on speed and reflexes were pushed into something far more serious at Fort Benning: a test of whether Soldiers could use them inside an urban fight. Over four days, 24 Soldiers from units across Fort Benning took part in the Maneuver Center of Excellence Maneuver Battle Lab Quarterly Drone Race Competition, and the final evaluation on April 17 at the McKenna Military Operations in Urban Terrain Facility centered on tactical integration and proficiency in a simulated city.

The format showed how far Army drone competition has moved beyond spectacle. The Soldiers progressed from virtual evaluations to complex room-clearing and strike missions, using palm-sized systems in spaces designed to resemble the tight angles, blind corners and split-second decisions of modern combat. In that setting, drone racing was not just about who could fly fastest. It was about who could scout first, coordinate better and keep a small unmanned aircraft steady enough to support a maneuver team under pressure.

That shift matters because the Army is clearly trying to normalize small-UAS competition as part of readiness training. In February 2026, the service’s inaugural Best Drone Warfighter Competition drew more than 200 competitors and over 800 attendees in Huntsville, Alabama, with three events that included a high-speed drone race, a tactical squad lane and an innovation showcase. A year earlier, Fort Benning hosted the inaugural Army JROTC National Drone Championship with 40 teams, building on a program that added drone piloting in 2023.

The Maneuver Battle Lab has become a key engine for that change. The lab says it supports Soldier and small-unit modernization through live prototyping, force-on-force experiments, and modeling and simulation, all aimed at testing how new tools fit into combined-arms maneuver. Chris Willis, the lab’s director, has described that mission as “increasing the lethality of the infantry brigade combat team through robotic-enabled maneuver.”

That is the real story inside this competition. The Army is not treating drones as a side attraction anymore. It is training Soldiers to use them as reconnaissance eyes, coordination tools and strike enablers in the same crowded, chaotic environments where future fights are likely to be decided.