British Army reveals UASs and UGVs used during Exercise ‘Forest Guardian'

The Royal Regiment of Scotland showcasing its capabilities as an infantry battalion of the British Army while using a UGV as a resupply vehicle as part of wider Exercise ‘Tarasiss'. (Crown Copyright)

The British Army revealed to Janes on 20 October the two types of unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) and two types of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) tested by soldiers from 11 Brigade and 3 Scots Battlegroup during Exercise ‘Forest Guardian' held in the third quarter of 2025.

The following UASs and UGVs were tested by British troops alongside Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) allies during ‘Forest Guardian': two Anduril Ghost UASs, one Parrot Anafi USA UAS, one ARX Robotics Gereon UGV with a PodView autonomous sensor system and L3Harris Corvus Raven C-UAS system, and one IDV (Iveco Defence Vehicles) Robotics Viking UGV.

Forest Guardian

Exercise ‘Forest Guardian' was a component of Exercise ‘Tarassis'. The latter ran from early September until the end of October 2025, lasting eight weeks across the North Atlantic and Baltic regions, according to a British Army spokesperson. It represented “the most ambitious JEF operation” since 2014 with Britain demonstrating a “revolutionary shift towards drone-centric warfare”, according to the spokesperson. “It showcased 11 Brigade's transformation into a specialised formation that fights ‘in and from the near surface' using unmanned systems as the primary manoeuvring force rather than the support elements.”

The exercise “proved that smaller, technologically advanced forces can achieve tactical superiority over larger conventional formations through systematic exploitation of near-surface battlespace”, the spokesperson said.