In Daudzeva, Latvia, Danish troops role-playing as an enemy "red force" ambushed Spanish soldiers in a pine forest during a NATO exercise this month, prompting one Spaniard to quip, "Todos muertos" – "everyone is dead," as he lay back beneath an armored vehicle that had raised its cannon to show it had been knocked out, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The drill, run by the Canadian-led brigade defending Latvia, opened the night before with a drone strike on the camp's assembly areas that left soldiers "dead" in their sleep, an outcome the Danish commander described with satisfaction.
The exercise aimed to prepare the brigade for a possible escalation with Russia by applying lessons from drone warfare in Ukraine, with uneven success so far. "We don't just train anymore. We do mission rehearsal," said Canadian Col. David Brassard, the brigade commander. "This is a fundamental change in mindset."
Canada has assigned about 35% of its land forces to Latvia, he said, alongside a German brigade in Lithuania and a British-led battle group in Estonia.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said intelligence points to a looming Russian escalation, though not yet enough to trigger NATO's Article 5 mutual-defense clause. He warned that Russia's military has grown stronger since 2022 despite battlefield setbacks.
"The Russian economy is probably not as good as it used to be, but the Russian military is more dangerous than it used to be four and a half years ago, and we need to take this into account," he said. "Like it or not, this is a military that now has battle experience, and has also been very flexible and agile to adapt to new warfare."
Brassard said unidentified drones have been seen over the drill area, and Baltic states have already suffered hybrid attacks. Danish troops, from the Royal Life Guards Regiment, have studied Russian and Ukrainian drone footage extensively, with nearly all 150 soldiers gaining basic piloting skills. Still, the unit's commander acknowledged his troops remain far from the Russian-Ukrainian standard, where drones account for about 90% of kills and much of conventional military doctrine has become outdated.
Elsewhere, Canadian Leopard tanks lacked drone netting and detection gear, with one crew member saying he expected to be issued a shotgun instead. Canadian artillery crews have spread their M777 howitzers 12 kilometers (about 7 miles) apart and buried them up to 3 meters (roughly 10 feet) deep to avoid drone detection.
Juris Jurašs, a former Latvian lawmaker turned Ukrainian reconnaissance commander, was skeptical, saying towed howitzers now draw drone strikes immediately after firing. "A tank in the battlefield now is like a dessert cake – the drone boys will be fighting each other over the right to strike it first," he said. "NATO armies are not ready for this kind of modern war. They've only heard about the war in Ukraine from TV or social media, and they don't understand just how much everything has changed."
Brassard said the brigade is adapting by practicing anti-drone netting and hardened command posts, though Ukrainian troops train only with Latvia's national forces, not directly with NATO. "Are we where we are supposed to be? Not 100%," he said. "But the threat across the border right now gives us some time to reach our cruising speed."
Rinkēvičs said he has urged NATO to speed up doctrinal change, the Journal noted, while Kyrylo Budanov, chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidency, complained that Ukrainian troops are usually cast as adversaries in NATO drills rather than included as partners.
"By not involving these units as your own, you don't understand the algorithms that we have developed, and all you get to see is how the opposing force is destroying your units, which has been happening all the time," he said.
Latvia's defense minister, Raivis Melnis, agreed, saying, "Russia is aggressive. It is important for us to understand that Russia doesn't seek peace. There is only one country in the world that knows how to fight Russia in reality, and that is Ukraine. We need those lessons; we need to get ready."
