AGADIR, Morocco – The inaugural African Lion drone academics class graduated more than 20 service members from four nations, trained on cost-effective small unmanned aircraft systems at Southern Zone Headquarters in Agadir, Morocco, May 5.
Students from Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria and the United States participated in this first-of-its-kind training as part of U.S. Africa Command’s largest annual joint exercise, led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF).
The training served as a fusion center of training and technology, allowing partners to collaborate on solutions to persistent security threats. Aligned with the U.S. Army Transformation Initiative, the academics included emerging sUAS capabilities, putting the initiative’s aim of a more lethal force into practice.
“Our continuous transformation initiative is built on bottom-up innovation,” said Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll. “Putting capability in the hands of the warfighter, experimenting and learning how Soldiers actually use it, is critical to this effort. This drone academy is the manifestation of that idea — U.S. Soldiers training shoulder to shoulder with our partners, building skills and sending lessons back into their formations.”
The drone academics featured two simultaneous courses, an eight-day sUAS planner course and a 10-day sUAS operator course, taught by instructors from the 7th Army Training Command. U.S. trainees came from the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the Utah Army National Guard‘s 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne).
The sUAS planner course gave students the knowledge and skills to integrate sUAS into the broader scheme of maneuver, with a focus on airspace deconfliction, multidomain integration, strike capabilities and intelligence, and surveillance and reconnaissance synchronization.
“Over eight days, planners covered everything from capabilities gap analysis and warfighting functions to airspace management, counter-UAS and electronic warfare,” said U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Derrick Guyton, sUAS master trainer with the 7th Army Training Command Combined Arms Training Center and noncommissioned officer in charge of drone academics. “They built that into course of action development, then spent the last two days running mission rehearsals. By graduation, they could integrate sUAS team employment, UAS orders and symbols, and meteorology into the broader scheme of maneuver.”
The sUAS operator course gave service members the proficiency to plan, operate and maintain sUAS in a tactical environment, react to emergencies and provide real-time reconnaissance to commanders.
“Operators spent 10 days training on sUAS components, operational considerations, vehicle identification, meteorology, battery management, electronic warfare, aerodynamics, night operations, mission planning, airspace deconfliction, camouflage and concealment, with hands-on familiarization across a variety of systems,” Guyton said. “They had to pass emergency procedure tests, and they finished with four days of flying.”
The training connected a live drone feed to the combined joint task force innovation cell, demonstrating that real-time imagery can be used in both training and operations. The capability supports a broader push to compress the kill chain and sharpen how operational headquarters see, sense and strike.
“What we are seeing in African Lion are partner forces learning and using emerging technology together, so they can apply this capability against their own persistent security challenges,” said U.S. Army Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa. “This is a great example of partners stepping up, fusing intelligence and technology, and how we can enable them to take the lead on their own challenges and contribute to regional security.”
Morocco’s permissive environment, including an open electromagnetic spectrum, uncongested airspace and austere, combat-realistic terrain, enables training difficult that is to replicate elsewhere.
“Operators are leaving here able to plan a mission, fly several platforms, react to emergencies and provide commanders with real-time reconnaissance,” Guyton said. “Planners are leaving able to integrate sUAS operations into the broader scheme of maneuver, from airspace deconfliction to targeting.”
Drone academics will continue to grow and develop, supporting shared security interests through sustainable, partner-led solutions. African Lion remains the premier venue for multinational training and innovation across the region.
About African Lion
AL26 is U.S. Africa Command’s largest annual joint exercise, designed to strengthen collective security capabilities of the U.S., African nations and global allies. Led by U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) from April 20 to May 8, 2026, and hosted in Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Tunisia, AL26 involves over 5,600 personnel from more than 40 nations, using innovation to drive partner-led regional security.
About SETAF-AF
U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) prepares Army forces, executes crisis response, enables strategic competition and strengthens partners to achieve U.S. Army Europe and Africa and U.S. Africa Command campaign objectives.
