Oklahoma troops trial cage armor against drone attacks

Photos and video from Exercise Thunderstruck 3.0 show Oklahoma National Guard convoy vehicles fitted with wire mesh cage screens, a low-cost defense against first-person-view drones that Ukrainian forces have used on the battlefield since 2022.

The exercise, held September 12 at Camp Gruber Training Center, centered on unmanned systems and drone threats. Images from the event show a convoy’s trucks in a boxy metal cage frame, along with a Humvee carrying a similar mesh screen mounted over vehicle. The screens are built from welded metal grating designed to detonate or deflect a drone’s warhead before it reaches the vehicle’s hull, the same basic principle behind the improvised “cope cages” that became common on Russian and Ukrainian armor earlier in the war in Ukraine.

The cage-covered vehicles moved as part of a tactical convoy that also included a marked ambulance, suggesting the Guard tested the added protection on logistics and medical evacuation vehicles rather than only combat platforms. A soldier is seen standing beside one of the trailers holding what appears to be a remote control, consistent with the exercise’s stated focus on integrating friendly drones alongside convoy operations.

Neither the Oklahoma National Guard’s public release on the exercise nor its participating unit commanders specifically addressed the cage armor seen in the imagery. The release did describe Thunderstruck as built around lessons from “evolving threats” and modern battlefields where drones “provide persistent surveillance, track troop movements and influence how military formations maneuver.”

“It’s trying to mold all of that into one operation so that we can test our systems, we can test our tactics, our techniques and our procedures to figure out what works, what doesn’t work, and then focus on what doesn’t work,” said Brig. Gen. Colby Wyatt, director of the joint staff for the Oklahoma National Guard.

Slat and cage armor became a defining visual feature of the war in Ukraine after both sides adapted to cheap FPV drones capable of destroying armored vehicles with small warheads. Ukrainian units began welding improvised cages onto tanks and trucks as early as 2022, and the practice later spread to Russian forces and, more formally, to vehicle designs from Western manufacturers testing add-on kits.

Thunderstruck 3.0 folded friendly and simulated adversary drones into the same training scenarios, alongside UH-60 Black Hawk operations, tactical convoy movements and medical evacuation drills. Retired Col. Shane Riley, co-owner of RXR Worldwide, which supports the Oklahoma Military Department on drone integration for the exercise, said the unmanned systems used during training served two purposes.

“We’re deploying these drones out into the environment to enable the units to be more lethal, to have better communications, and have a better understanding of the battlefield around them,” Riley said. “And then we’re also doing threat replication with those drones to make them deal with what the facts would look like in their next conflict.”

The exercise falls under the Oklahoma National Guard’s Launched Effects Program, which has brought together military, industry, academic and government partners since 2022 to develop drone and counter-drone capabilities.

It remains unclear whether the cage screens seen at Thunderstruck 3.0 reflect a formal equipment decision by the Oklahoma National Guard or a field-expedient addition tested during this specific exercise.

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