Georgia Army National Guard Launches State’s First FPV Drone Training Program

The Georgia Army National Guard this month launched its first dedicated drone pilot training program, joining a growing list of state Guard units racing to build FPV drone expertise following lessons learned from Ukraine’s battlefield. The 12-day Unmanned Aerial Systems Operator’s Course puts Georgia troops on the same path as Pennsylvania and Oklahoma units that have already integrated small quadcopter training into their tactical doctrine.

The program was built in just six months under the direction of Georgia Army National Guard commander Brig. Gen. Jason Fryman, who assembled a team of six expert trainers and pilots to design the curriculum from scratch. Troops primarily trained on the RQ-28 Short Range Reconnaissance quadcopter, produced by California-based Skydio, learning to integrate the system into engineering reconnaissance missions.

“It’s exciting to have done our first course, but I am even more excited about what UAS in the Georgia ARNG will look like a year from now. I have no doubt that Georgia will be a UAS trailblazing state for the National Guard,” said Col. Matthew Kukla, the UAS initiative director, in a service release.

Georgia’s 12-day course mirrors Ukraine-inspired training model

The Georgia program structure follows a pattern now common across U.S. military drone training. Classroom instruction on fundamentals, mission planning, and safety protocols comes first, followed by a field exercise where operators fly real hardware under realistic conditions. Pennsylvania’s National Guard runs a similar approach at Fort Indiantown Gap, where soldiers fly FPV drones through homemade obstacle courses built from wood and PVC pipes inside a small hangar.

The training emphasis reflects hard lessons from Ukraine, where FPV drones now account for roughly 70-80% of battlefield casualties. Ukrainian instructors have compressed drone pilot training into two-week programs, pushing recruits through high-pressure environments that simulate signal loss, heavy jamming interference, and constant threat exposure. American Guard units are now adapting these methods domestically.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nathan Shea, who leads Pennsylvania’s Guard drone program, trained Ukrainian troops in Germany before returning to build the Fort Indiantown Gap curriculum. His experience shaping new recruits into frontline operators in just 45 days directly influenced the obstacle course design now used by Pennsylvania troops. Georgia’s program appears to follow similar principles.

The RQ-28 gives Georgia troops a foldable reconnaissance platform

The RQ-28 Short Range Reconnaissance quadcopter is a foldable FPV drone designed for rapid deployment from rucksacks in the field. The platform uses onboard AI to navigate around obstacles autonomously and comes equipped with thermal and visual recognition capabilities that support a range of mission types, from route reconnaissance to security patrols.

Skydio originally won the Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance contract in 2021, a deal valued at up to $99.8 million. However, the company lost the follow-on contract to Red Cat Holdings in November 2024, when Red Cat’s Black Widow drone system was selected for the Army’s next-generation Short Range Reconnaissance Program of Record. The Army plans to acquire at least 5,880 systems over a five-year period under that new contract.

Despite losing the Army contract, Skydio’s existing RQ-28 units remain in widespread use across military and National Guard formations. The U.S. Army tested Skydio systems in Romania in early 2025, deploying the X10 variant across multiple companies within the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division. More than 132 soldiers became certified Skydio pilots during that deployment alone.

Georgia’s train-the-trainer model targets rapid capability expansion

The Georgia program is designed to create master trainers who will then spread drone expertise throughout the state’s Guard formations. This multiplier approach lets a small cadre of experts rapidly scale training capacity without depending on external instructors for every course cycle. It mirrors the model New York’s National Guard adopted in 2024, when the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team trained soldiers on the miniature Soldier Borne Sensor drone at Fort Drum using a train-the-trainer approach.

The U.S. Army’s Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course at Fort Rucker, Alabama, launched in August 2025, also uses this model. That three-week program trains 28 soldiers per class in FPV drone operations, targeting infantry, cavalry scouts, UAS operators, and warrant officers. Fort Rucker plans to become the hub for advanced UAS training while individual units build their own basic programs locally.

Georgia Guard units in the inaugural class learned to use the RQ-28 for route and zone reconnaissance supporting engineering tasks. The foldable design and rucksack portability of the platform make it practical for dismounted operations where traditional reconnaissance methods would expose soldiers to unnecessary risk.

National Guard drone programs accelerate across multiple states

Georgia joins a growing list of Guard units investing in small drone capability. Oklahoma’s National Guard ran a major exercise called Thunderstruck 2.0 in September 2025, forcing soldiers and airmen to assault objectives while under constant surveillance from AI-powered Skydio X10 drones. The drones dropped tennis balls to simulate explosive munitions, training troops to fight in an environment where the sky is actively hostile.

Oklahoma plans to build a dedicated counter-UAS training complex at Camp Gruber to serve as a hub for the entire National Guard. “Drones are becoming a thing—they already are. The future depends on us training now,” Maj. Gen. Tim Hennessee, Oklahoma’s adjutant general, said during the exercise.

The Pentagon’s DOGE efficiency unit is now targeting procurement of at least 30,000 small drones across military branches, following the failure of the Replicator program to deliver autonomous swarm capability. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll has said the service plans to buy at least one million drones over the next two to three years to close the gap with adversaries who produce far more units annually.

DroneXL’s Take

Georgia’s program is one piece of a much larger puzzle. The National Guard is collectively figuring out how to integrate small drones into formations that were never designed around them, and every state that builds a working program becomes a model for others to copy. Pennsylvania trains through obstacle courses, Oklahoma trains against AI-powered adversary drones, and Georgia is now training reconnaissance operators. Each approach adds to the institutional knowledge base.

The timing matters. Ukraine has demonstrated that FPV drones can account for the majority of battlefield casualties in peer conflict, and the Pentagon is finally moving to close the capability gap. Guard units that build expertise now will be ahead of the curve when demand for trained operators inevitably spikes.

Col. Kukla’s confidence about Georgia becoming a “UAS trailblazing state” is ambitious, but the foundation is there. Six expert trainers built the curriculum in six months, and the train-the-trainer model means that expertise can multiply quickly. Expect Georgia to run multiple courses per year by 2027, with graduates spreading drone skills to engineering, infantry, and cavalry formations across the state. The question is whether they can scale fast enough to match the pace of drone warfare evolution.

Editorial Note: This article was researched and drafted with the assistance of AI to ensure technical accuracy and archive retrieval. All insights, industry analysis, and perspectives were provided exclusively by Haye Kesteloo and our other DroneXL authors, editors, and YouTube partners to ensure the “Human-First” perspective our readers expect.