HOHENFELS, Germany — Assets from the 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade spearheaded counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems operations in support of the 173rd Mobile Brigade Combat Team (Airborne) during Saber Junction 2026, at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, from Aug. 15, 2026 until Sep. 13, 2026.
The exercise was designed to test and strengthen the interoperability, cohesion and readiness of U.S. Army and allied units, with air defense operations playing a key role.
Amongst the participating units was a platoon from Alpha Battery, 5th Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiment, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Brigade operating the SGT STOUT. First known as the Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense, this system allows Army air defenders to occupy and survey everything north of the horizon, ensuring air superiority. Beneath their protective M-SHORAD shield are forces assigned to Bravo Battery, 4th Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, under the 173rd Mobile Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), enabling offensive fires forces to advance, dominate and maintain ground maneuverability and superiority.
With the rising threat of UAS on the modern battlefield, air superiority grows larger on the scale of relevance and air defenders are tipping that scale.
Army formations depend on numerous capabilities that are vulnerable to aerial attack. Command posts require communication and networks to coordinate operations while field artillery units must occupy firing positions to provide fires in support of maneuver.
Traditionally howitzer crew members would respond reactively to drone threats with shotguns, small arms weapons or drone-busters. Having the SGT STOUT, equipped with an extended range detection system, integrated into their formation provides them more time to detect those threats and act preemptively.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 28, 2026, Bravo Battery rolled into the designated firing point on JMRC field with multiple towed howitzers, prepared to emplace and send rounds down range in support of maneuvering units. Often times, howitzer crews can be spread thin during emplacements and sometimes even fire missions, with some of the crew designated for security posture with the remaining crew having to work harder to maintain operability. All the while, maneuvering units are waiting for critical field artillery rounds to rain down on the enemy and pave the way to victory.
Fortunately, during Saber Junction 26, the Alpha Battery air defenders bolstered the function of field artillery emplacements, dominating the sky and maintaining secure firing points.
“The [SGT STOUTs] are a tremendous asset for us,” said 2nd Lt. Gordon Turner, platoon leader assigned to Bravo Battery. “The more help that we have from these [M]-SHORAD guys to focus on the UAS threats, we can enable our guys and use them most effectively to shoot artillery.”
Counter-UAS operations are consequently an important component of modern air defense. The SGT STOUT’s capability to detect, identify, track and defeat hostile UAS can help protect maneuver formations and preserve their ability to operate.
“With the incorporation of air defense on this kind of rotation right here, it allows us to see how a maneuver [unit] would employ us,” said 1st Lt. Christopher Barkley, executive officer for Alpha Battery. “Our [SGT STOUTs] are emplaced in order to provide the most applicable early warning as it applies. With our Sentinel [radar] we’re able to forecast over this entire terrain so that essentially everyone is informed of what threats are currently going on.”
The role of air defense artillery in support of field artillery is not simply to destroy an aircraft or UAS. Its broader purpose is to help create and sustain an environment in which field artillery can continue to operate and dominate the terrain.
“If we do receive any contact, and that can come from a UAS threat, we have to pick up and move to the next location,” said Turner. “But if we can deal with that threat before it affects us then we can stay at our firing point and continue to provide fires to the maneuver unit.”
This makes air defense artillery a critical enabler to the field artillery community. When air defense and field artillery are integrated during a large-scale training event, both organizations have the opportunity to demonstrate how air defense contributes directly to the survivability and effectiveness of the supporting offensive fires.
The 52d Air Defense Artillery Brigade provides integrated air and missile defense capabilities in support of U.S. Army Europe and Africa by defending critical assets, protecting maneuver forces, rapidly deploying advanced air defense capabilities to counter unmanned aerial systems and rotary and fixed-wing threats to ensure freedom of maneuver, local air superiority and ground combat lethality against emerging threats across European and African theaters.
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