"We are finished". NATO Exercise in Estonia Reveals Alliance's Unpreparedness for Modern Warfare – WSJ

The large-scale Hedgehog-2025 exercise that NATO member states conducted in Estonia last May revealed serious tactical shortcomings and vulnerabilities in high-intensity drone combat. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal with reference to its own sources with knowledge of the training.

More than 16,000 troops from 12 NATO countries took part in the exercise. They trained together with Ukrainian drone experts, including soldiers deployed from the front line.

The training was to simulate a "sporty and overloaded" battlefield with different types of drones. According to Arbo Probal, head of the Estonian Defense Force's unmanned systems program, the goal was to "create friction, stress for units and cognitive overload" to test the soldiers' ability to adapt under fire.

In one scenario, a battle group of several thousand troops, including a British brigade and an Estonian division, attempted to launch an attack. According to several interlocutors of the publication, during the advancethey did not take into account that drones made the battlefield "transparent."

One participant who played the role of the enemy said that the NATO battlegroup "just walked around without using any camouflage, setting up tents and armored vehicles."

"Everything was destroyed," the source summarized.

During the exercise, the Ukrainians used Delta, their sophisticated battlefield management system. It collects intelligence on the state of the battle in real time, uses artificial intelligence to analyze huge amounts of data, identifies targets and coordinates strikes between command and units. This enables a rapid "chain of destruction": see, share, fire – all within minutes or less.

One team of about 10 Ukrainians, acting as the enemy, counterattacked the NATO forces. In about half a day, they simulated the destruction of 17 armored vehicles and launched 30 "strikes" on other targets.

Aivar Gagniotti, Coordinator of Unmanned Aircraft Systems at the Estonian Defense League, called the results of Hedgehog 2025 "terrible" for NATO forces. He noted that the enemy troops "were able to eliminate two battalions in a day," so "in terms of the exercise, in fact, they could no longer fight after that." The NATO side "didn't even get our drone teams," he said.

The former commander of the Estonian Military Intelligence Center, Sten Reimann, said that the results of the exercise were "shocking" for military officials and soldiers on the ground.

Several interlocutors also told the publication that one of the commanders who observed the exercises concluded: "We are finished".

Commenting on this reaction, Colonel Probal explained that the main goal was to "make the military think and perceive themselves critically" and "not be complacent." In his opinion, this mission was accomplished.

The newspaper noted that the exercises in Estonia showed how transparent the battlefield has become – and how vulnerable this makes anyone or anything moving across it. Therefore, NATO "will need to adjust its tactics and find better ways to protect its tanks and armored vehicles."

At the same time, the WSJ noted that the training was "an example of how Ukrainians can contribute to overall European security."

• In June 2025, the NATO Secretary General said that Russia is building up its military capabilities, so in five years it will will be ready to use military force against NATO.

• In October, the head of Germany's intelligence service said that Russia was allegedly ready to engage in direct military conflict with NATO and that this may happen by 2029.