Tampa, FL — Florida will transfer 500 confiscated Chinese-made drones to U.S. Special Operations Command for use as target practice in one of the largest counter-drone training events ever held in the United States. The drones, seized by state authorities, will be destroyed during a December 4–6 exercise at Camp Blanding, according to details first reported by Bloomberg News and confirmed by SOCOM.
The quadcopter drones will be used over a three-day period in live-fire drills intended to sharpen U.S. special operations forces’ ability to defend against adversary drone swarms. Troops will shoot down the drones using shotguns, part of close-quarters and convoy-attack scenarios described by the United States National Drone Association (USNDA), which is organizing the event.
USNDA President Nate Ecelbarger said it will be the largest counter-drone destruction event conducted domestically. The previous record came in September, when U.S. Navy SEALs, Marines and Army Rangers used electromagnetic weapons to down 49 drones during training at Camp Atterbury in Indiana.
The Florida exercise arrives amid intensified U.S. efforts to rapidly scale drone production. In August, the Trump administration cut regulatory barriers to speed manufacturing in response to advances in Russia and China’s drone programs. Defense officials told NewsNation at the time that the U.S. is “going for dominance.”
A Heritage Foundation report released in August said the U.S. would “in all probability” not win a drone war with China unless domestic production accelerates sharply.
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