It started with a warning shout - "Drone" - slicing through the morning stillness. Within seconds, soldiers dived for cover as a tiny machine swept overhead, capturing every movement.
At the Army School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering's (ASEME) latest field training exercise (FTX), drones aren't just props. They are the threat, the teacher and the future of warfare.
During the FTX in late March at Puckapunyal Military Area, soldiers bedded in basic soldier skills, with the addition of what officer commanding the activity Major Dominic Buchan referred to as "the three-dimensional battle space".
"We have drones fly over our position in both a friendly and an enemy context to allow the trainees to respond tactically," Major Buchan said.
"Now they have to understand what they look like traversing across the terrain, what they look like in the defence, and consider their cover, concealment and movement. It's a stark contrast to be seen running to a hide versus staying still in whatever location they may be."
This realism in training was made possible through interoperability between ASEME and the School of Armour (SoARMD), which provided drones, pilots and two M113AS4 armoured personnel carriers firing .50 calibre blanks for battlefield noise simulation.
Come the second FTX later this year, SoARMD will again have enabled ASEME by running soldiers through the defence remote pilot licence course, enabling ASEME to pilot drones. Communication and Surveillance Wing sergeant major Sergeant Chris Gagliardi said the relationship between the schools created opportunities for them to flex and test their skills.
"The surveillance aspect of what these lads do is their bread and butter," Sergeant Gagliardi said.
"For them, it's helping them flesh out their own [tactics, techniques and procedures] TTPs and [standard operating procedures] SOPs, while helping another school achieve their training goals."
'If the Ukraine war has taught us anything, it is that drones aren't going anywhere.'
Sergeant Gagliardi said introducing drones to soldiers as soon as possible was paramount in remaining current on a transparent and increasingly lethal battlefield.
"If the Ukraine war has taught us anything, it is that drones aren't going anywhere," he said.
"We're seeing the proliferation of them more and more throughout the South-East Asia region as well.
"Having that drone awareness instilled into trainees at Kapooka and initial employment training level sets the foundation skills they'll need to survive future battle spaces."
Major Buchan said trainees would learn how to fix, operate and sustain drones.
"As a soldier, they need to learn how to respond to them as an enemy threat, and use them as a friendly tool. The tradesperson will see all aspects of the life of the drone, including repair, replacement and its use in battle," he said.
With two days of drone harassment across the activity, the trainees marched out of Puckapunyal enlightened, their eyes reflexively scanning the sky.
Craftsman Aashere Manoj said the humming of a drone overhead was alarming.
"My heart rate goes up, I kind of just zone in, get that tunnel vision sort of thing," he said.
"You run to your pit and get ready. It's a whole new world."
