NSU Trains Fort Polk Soldiers on Drone Operations

Northwestern State University’s ARGO Lab just ran its first drone training program for soldiers at Fort Polk, Louisiana. The two-day course took troops from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division through the fundamentals of UAS operations, flight planning, sensor work, and field maintenance, as reported by National Today.

What the Training Covered

JD Cox, director of NSU’s Advanced Remote and Geospatial Operations Lab, led the program in partnership with the university’s Office of Economic Development and Advancement. Cox and his team started with an introduction to multirotor quadcopter systems, their classifications, sensors, and batteries before moving into hands-on flight operations.

The curriculum covered aviation weather, aeronautical decision making, crew roles, and mission planning. Soldiers also practiced assembly and disassembly of larger multirotor platforms and ran advanced sensor operations. Some participants had prior experience with surveillance drones, but most came in looking for deeper, more structured training.

SPC Kevin Ruiz, with the 3/10th Mountain Division, said the course expanded his understanding of what drones can actually do in real-world scenarios and how to implement them in the field. Mark Leslie, Fort Polk’s director of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security, called the parallels between civilian and military UAS operations “quite amazing” and singled out the mission planning block as one of the most valuable sessions. Leslie suggested future courses could tailor exercises around specific military platform capabilities.

Why the Army Needs This Now

The timing isn’t accidental. The U.S. Army has declared “drone dominance” a War Department priority, and the push to make every soldier at least proficient with small UAS is accelerating across the force.

Fort Benning integrated virtual drone training into its basic training program in January 2026 using simulation software modeled after the 75th Ranger Regiment’s lethality course.

Green Berets at Fort Carson completed an intensive three-week advanced drone course in February. And the Army held its first-ever Best Drone Warfighter Competition in Huntsville that same month, drawing over 800 attendees and teams from every Army unit.

This isn’t a niche skillset anymore. The Army’s operational doctrine was updated in March 2025 with new imperatives like “protect against constant observation” and “make contact with sensors, unmanned systems, or the smallest element possible.”

Lessons from Ukraine, where cheap FPV drones have destroyed multimillion-dollar tanks and reshaped entire front lines, drove those changes. The goal isn’t to turn every soldier into a certified pilot, but to make sure every soldier understands the tool that will be in their formation.

That’s where programs like NSU’s ARGO Lab fit. Cox put it plainly: there are major initiatives for every member of the military to become a proficient drone operator, and the ARGO Lab wants to help deliver that entry-level training through a university partnership that bridges the civilian and military UAS worlds.

NSU’s ARGO Lab and What Comes Next

The ARGO Lab has built a solid reputation as a regional leader in drone education across Louisiana. It offers Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification prep courses for law enforcement, industry professionals, and civilians.

The lab’s fleet includes DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise platforms with thermal and zoom payloads, DJI Avata units for FPV training, and Tello drones for introductory education. Beyond flight training, the lab integrates aerial data capture, 3D modeling, photogrammetry, and sensor-based surveys into its curriculum.

Leslie noted that pursuing FAA Part 107 certification could add real value to future military training sessions. Cox agreed, saying any information they can push out about using drones in the modern world is beneficial. The next two-day session is already scheduled for April 25-26 at NSU’s Leesville/Fort Polk campus. The cost is $250 per session, with the FAA certification exam administered separately at an approved testing center.

The 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, the “Patriot Brigade,” has deployed to Afghanistan four times, served in Iraq, and most recently participated in exercises across Europe as part of NATO’s eastern flank reinforcement. The unit has a deep operational history. Adding structured UAS proficiency to its training pipeline is a natural next step for a light infantry brigade that will face drone-saturated battlefields.

DroneXL’s Take

The part that doesn’t make the headline is how badly the Army needs training partners outside its own walls. The military has the ambition, the doctrine, and the directive from the top to make every soldier drone-capable. What it doesn’t have is enough internal capacity to train hundreds of thousands of troops at the speed the battlefield demands.

That’s where university partnerships like this one actually matter. NSU’s ARGO Lab isn’t a defense contractor charging six figures for a proprietary course. It’s a state university lab charging $250 per seat and teaching the same mission planning fundamentals that military UAS operators use in the field.

The fact that Fort Polk’s training director found the civilian-military crossover “eye opening” tells you something important about how much common ground exists between the FAA’s Part 107 framework and what soldiers need to know before they launch a quadcopter in a contested environment.

The Army held its first Best Drone Warfighter Competition in February. Fort Benning now runs virtual drone lanes in basic training. Green Berets are building and soldering their own systems at Fort Carson.

The train is moving. But the demand for trained operators will outpace the Army’s own schoolhouses for years. Programs like ARGO, sitting right next to Fort Polk and already plugged into the local military community, are exactly the kind of distributed training infrastructure the Army should be scaling.

Photo credit: NSU