CAMP GRUBER TRAINING CENTER, Okla. – Oklahoma National Guard Soldiers put their tactics, techniques and procedures to the test during Exercise Thunderstruck 3.0, an unmanned systems-centered exercise held Sept. 12.
This year’s iteration of the annual exercise at Camp Gruber Training Center trained Oklahoma National Guard members against evolving threats, while military representatives from other states, international partners and industry representatives observed scenarios incorporating unmanned aerial systems, or UAS, and other emerging capabilities.
“It’s trying to mold all of that into one operation so that we can test our systems, we can test our tactics, our techniques and our procedures to figure out what works, what doesn’t work and then focus on what doesn’t work,” said Brig. Gen. Colby Wyatt, director of the joint staff for Oklahoma National Guard.
The training reflects lessons from modern battlefields, where rapidly evolving unmanned systems provide persistent surveillance, track troop movements and influence how military formations maneuver.
“We have a dedicated exercise to take the emerging technology, put it in the hands of Soldiers and let them execute in a controlled environment where we can go back in and look at what we did and make sure what we’re doing is the right thing,” said Maj. Michael Horn, commander, 1st Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
That complexity also puts greater demands on junior leaders.
“It takes a lot of training,” Horn said. “It takes a lot of learning for that leader on the ground to be able to understand the capabilities of the systems within his formation and how to employ them effectively to both protect and survive on the battlefield and be lethal.”
This year’s training incorporated UH-60 Black Hawk operations, tactical convoy movements, medical evacuation operations and UAS capabilities, giving participants opportunities to rehearse how they would operate, communicate and maneuver while facing threats from the air and ground.
“Exercise Thunderstruck helps the National Guard to get after their dual-use mission of domestic response and tactical-edge warfighting capability with drones, helicopters, other effects and fixed-wing aircraft safely, and teaching the young Soldiers and leaders in our environment how to be competitive and what the next fight looks like,” said retired Col. Shane Riley, co-owner of RXR Worldwide, which supports the Oklahoma Military Department by developing innovation capabilities, partnerships and digital airspace awareness for exercises such as Thunderstruck.
Friendly and opposing UAS operated throughout the exercise, providing both battlefield capabilities and simulated threats.
“We’re deploying these drones out into the environment to enable the units to be more lethal, to have better communications and have a better understanding of the battlefield around them,” Riley said. “And then we’re also doing threat replication with those drones to make them deal with what the facts would look like in their next conflict.”
That integration of capabilities and threats is central to Thunderstruck 3.0, which brings multiple systems and training scenarios together to test how units operate in a complex battlefield environment.
Thunderstruck is part of the Oklahoma National Guard’s broader effort to develop UAS and counter-UAS capabilities through the Launched Effects Program, which since 2022 has brought together military, industry, academic and government partners to address emerging technologies and threats.
“We have state partners, interagency partners, domestic response partners, industry that are looking for ways to be relevant in the dual-use space, both commercial domestic protection and military applications,” Riley said.
For Guard leaders, the objective of Thunderstruck is not simply to demonstrate new technology, but to give Soldiers an environment in which they can experiment, identify weaknesses and refine how they operate before lives depend on it.
“We want to make sure that we set them up for success and we get them to start thinking about these different things, because they’re the ones on the ground,” said Col. Steve Cheadle, brigade commander for the 90th Troop Command. “They’re the ones that are in harm’s way, and they’re the ones trying to lead their troops to make sure that they’re safe and they get back home.”
Exercise Thunderstruck 3.0 represents another step in the Oklahoma National Guard’s effort to keep pace with rapidly changing technology and ensure its formations are prepared to operate in an increasingly complex environment.
“You’re going to have to make some failures to find out where those gaps are in order to figure it out, to succeed,” Wyatt said. “The overarching goal of this is we want to protect our Soldiers better, for their survival on the battlefield.”