The booming sound of machine guns echoed across the range at Puckapunyal as a platoon of M113AS4 gun cars opened fire on two closing drones nearly 200 metres away.
A cheer broke out as one drone shattered into pieces, the direct hit turning it into flaming confetti that littered the field in front of the carriers.
As the second drone flew out of sight, the crew of gun car ‘Battle Axe’ raised their hands in victory with bragging rights secured.
It was the first time a drone target shoot had taken place during Exercise Iron Warrior, the culminating live-fire exercise on the mechanised regimental officers’ course.
School of Armour Tactics Wing instructor warrant officer class two Robert Kelly said the exercise was added in response to increased drone use in the modern battle space.
“We want to keep the training as current as possible, and if you look at the conflicts in Ukraine and overseas, drones are heavily influencing the battle space,” he said.
During the nine-week course, infantry and engineer officers were taught vehicle navigation, manoeuvre tactics and mounted firing on the armoured personnel carrier.
Mechanised Tactics instructor Corporal Ross Pickard said the biggest challenge for students on course was the speed at which everything was done.
“It’s a pretty big change of pace. Instead of being able to take a couple of minutes to make a decision, you’ve got maybe five to 10 seconds,” he said.
“Their planning cycle to make a quick decision, whether to commit to something or withdraw, is compressed. It draws from a lot of knowledge and skills they already have, but they have to be able to do it quicker.”
Exercise Iron Warrior also put participants in an ambush, a convoy escort and combat team assault, working alongside Australian light armoured vehicles and M1A1 Abrams tanks.
The final activity was a 15-kilometre combat team assault with a minefield breach, something combat engineer Lieutenant Drew Roberts was particularly excited about.
He said the hands-on nature of the course made it particularly effective.
“It’s by far the best course I’ve done in Army, due to its practical nature. There’s obviously a classroom component but then you are out field, banging it in for days on end,” he said.
“You start the course and you struggle to move your single car, but by the end of it, you are finding it pretty easy to manoeuvre the entire platoon.”
For junior officers, the course was the final hurdle before being posted to their first unit as a platoon or troop commander.
As for the drone that got away, it was found to have been clipped twice in the propellers – hit, but not brought down.
