Simulated drone attack at Camp Pendleton puts spotlight on little seen, often deadly adversary

The blood was fake. So were the broken bones. But an otherwise authentic, torn-from-the-headlines drill was held Wednesday at Camp Pendleton involving an often deadly and rarely seen adversary: aerial drones.

Marines and Navy corpsmen had to react to a simulated attack by multiple drones that struck while they were having chow on the edge of a flat, open field.

The scripted exercise was part of Steel Knight, an annual two-week campaign to train troops for a variety of threats, including drones, whose use in warfare is rapidly rising and becoming ever more public.

Ukraine has used small drones to inflict unexpectedly heavy damage on Russian ships, tanks and trenches. Israel killed people in Gaza with the use of quickly assembled sniper drones.

This week’s mock attack focused on roughly three dozen Marines and corpsmen, many who will deploy to Australia for exercises meant to counter aggression by China, which has a huge inventory of drones.

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