U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 159th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, conducted a data link integration exercise and combined arms live-fire exercise with Soldiers from the 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment during the Skyfall proof-of-concept series at Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, Oct. 6, 2026. The training integrated ground-to-air target handover via Link 16, enabling air defense and aviation forces to rapidly detect, identify, track and engage enemy small unmanned aerial systems. The exercise validated a shared kill chain between ground and air assets, strengthening interoperability and advancing tactics, techniques and procedures that increase the joint force’s ability to counter emerging UAS threats in large-scale combat operations. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Scyrrus Corregidor)
