Norwegian soldiers are dropping tennis balls from drones onto tanks in innovative tactical exercises that mirror combat techniques currently employed in Ukraine, Defense News reports.

The Norwegian Army conducted these tests during NATO’s Joint Viking 2025 exercise in Northern Norway this March, focusing on intelligence, surveillance, and unmanned aerial vehicle deployment strategies.

“To simulate attacks on participating forces, tennis balls were dropped, and FPVs were flown in dive attack patterns to simulate modern-day drone threats,” explained Maj. Tor Sellevold of Combat Lab, the Norwegian Army’s land warfare center. According to Sellevold, the exercise aimed to “provide insights to the participants of their own aerial signature, experience the threat from top-attack drones, and evaluate their standard operating procedures.”

The tests specifically involved first-person-view (FPV) drones, a technology that has become prominent in Russia’s war in Ukraine, where skilled operators guide these remote-controlled aircraft to deliver explosives with precision – sometimes even through the open hatches of armored vehicles.

Over 30 tennis balls were dropped during ten drone sorties, marking the Norwegian Army’s first large-scale testing with attack drones. The exercise reflects Norway’s growing interest in drone warfare developments from Ukraine, where increasingly capable low-cost drones have successfully targeted larger Russian platforms like combat helicopters.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has recently announced the Drone Line project, which aims to establish a 15-kilometer unmanned “kill zone” along front lines using both surveillance and strike drones.

An unnamed officer from the Norwegian Army’s military intelligence battalion indicated that their unit plans to operate drones from positions well behind battle lines.

“Our unit will not be operating them close to the frontlines; we will do so from a larger distance back with longer-ranges ones,” the officer told Defense News during the Joint Viking exercise.

Norway also plans to acquire new drones that are better suited for Arctic operations and feature “very long-range” cameras. During the exercise, the unit also deployed the US-made Puma drone manufactured by AeroVironment for surveillance missions.

Read more:

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