U.S. Army Capt. Bradley Byrd, an observer controller trainer for the Joint Multinational Readiness Center, talks about electronic warfare systems with soldiers in Hohenfels, Germany, April 15, 2025. The five-day Spectrum Blitz exercise took place in Hohenfels, where soldiers from units across Bavaria honed their electronic warfare skills. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

HOHENFELS, Germany — Dozens of U.S. soldiers specializing in electronic warfare gathered at an Army training ground in Bavaria in recent days, looking to gain mastery of high-tech systems that helped them locate, track and destroy their simulated enemy.

The Spectrum Blitz exercise took place over five days at the Joint Multinational Training Center in Hohenfels before wrapping up Tuesday evening.

Against the center’s resident opposition force, 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment and its small, off-the-shelf drones, the exercise participants tested their mettle in offensive and defensive operations involving geolocation and communications signal jamming.

Spectrum Blitz brought together about 100 electronic warfare specialists from the Vilseck-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment and rotational soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division, 101st Airborne Division, and 1st Armored Division.

A U.S. soldier posts security April 15, 2025, during exercise Spectrum Blitz at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany. The five-day exercise trained soldiers on electronic warfare platforms. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

A U.S. soldier at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, participates in Spectrum Blitz, a five-day electronic warfare exercise that wrapped up April 15, 2025. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

U.S. soldiers participating in exercise Spectrum Blitz post security around the assembly area at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, April 15, 2025. Troops from units across Bavaria participated in the five-day exercise, which focused on electronic warfare equipment and its use on the battlefield. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

A VMAX system at the U.S. Army's Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, April 15, 2025, during exercise Spectrum Blitz. The five-day exercise offered training in electronic warfare systems and strategies. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

A Beast+ electronic warfare system leans against a Versatile Radio Observation and Direction Modular Adaptive Transmission system, or VMAX, during an electronic warfare exercise in Hohenfels, Germany, that ended April 15, 2025. The portable jammers saw heavy use during exercise Spectrum Blitz. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

U.S. soldiers learn how to use the Versatile Radio Observation and Direction Modular Adaptive Transmission system, or VMAX, during exercise Spectrum Blitz in Hohenfels, Germany, April 15, 2025. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

Electronic warfare “is something that people outside of our field and environment, they don’t really think of,” Spc. Anton Stigler said as he stood near a Stryker vehicle mounted with a large antenna called a Tactical Electronic Warfare System.

“When people aren’t thinking about that and they’re using the radios a lot ... my system can hear you from ranges that I wouldn’t even be able to see you at,” he said.

Electronic warfare refers to the combat use of high-tech equipment that operates on the electromagnetic spectrum, according to the Army.

A U.S. soldier plots points of detected radio signals to track a simulated adversary during exercise Spectrum Blitz at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, April 15, 2025. Electronic warfare specialists spent five days gaining familiarity and experience with an assortment of high-tech systems. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

U.S. soldiers at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, take part in the final day of Spectrum Blitz on April 15, 2025. Dozens of Army electronic warfare specialists spent five days training with assorted high-tech equipment. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

A U.S. Army Stryker mounted with a Tactical Electronic Warfare System-Infantry provides support to soldiers during exercise Spectrum Blitz at the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany, April 15, 2025. (Lydia Gordon/Stars and Stripes)

This can mean finding a concealed enemy unit through electromagnetic or radio signals, jamming their communications or knocking an attacking drone out of the sky before it reaches soldiers on the ground.

This was the second iteration of the annual exercise, which is growing along with the career field because of the importance of detecting electronic signatures on modern battlefields.

Next year, the exercise will involve multinational partners and allies, readiness center commander Col. Christopher Kirkpatrick said.

Innovative use of drones has been a hallmark of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and the U.S. military is broadly pushing to train its personnel in such tactics.

Capt. Bradley Byrd, a military intelligence trainer at the center, said the U.S. is behind peer adversaries when it comes to electronic warfare.

Each platoon has only a handful of electronic warfare specialists, so they tend to be neglected in training, he added.

“They don’t get that training, that repetition, so when they come and do our [combat training center] rotations, they tend to not perform well,” Byrd said. “So we were like, ‘Hey, how can we get them some realistic training that they probably can’t do in home station?’”

During Spectrum Blitz, soldiers fielded backpack-mounted systems such as the Beast+ and Versatile Radio Observation and Direction Modular Adaptive Transmission system, or VMAX, in addition to vehicle-mounted systems, like the one Stigler was using.

The systems work as nodes that can spread out and feed information to a centralized collection point to triangulate an enemy position.

The soldiers saw more success as the exercise progressed. After locating only two enemy targets on the first day, they upped that number to 51 out of 67 on Tuesday, trainer Sgt. 1st Class Louie Lau said.

On Tuesday, while Stigler manned the Stryker system, officers from all of the participating units took a quick course on the backpacks to better understand how to use the electronic warfare soldiers under their command.

Capt. Edgar Orellana, an analyst at the readiness center, donned the VMAX and tried to find a man with a radio somewhere in the grassy hills before him.

Waves indicating an anomaly spiked on a tablet in his hand.

“It’s hard to employ something when you lack the knowledge; we’re inadequate at it,” Orellana said. “War is evolving. As these modernization efforts get pushed out, we have to adapt with them.” burke.matt@stripes.com @MatthewMBurke1