Why are Norwegian soldiers dropping tennis balls on battle tanks? The answer is drones

The Norwegian Army has taken an unusual approach to testing new battlefield tactics– dropping tennis balls on battle tanks. But behind the seemingly lighthearted experiment lies a serious military objective: understanding how drones are reshaping modern warfare.

As part of Nato’s Joint Viking 2025 exercise in northern Norway earlier this month, officials staged a series of trials to refine intelligence and surveillance strategies using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones.

Among them were first-person-view (FPV) drones, similar to those employed with devastating effect by both Ukrainian and Russian forces on the battlefields of Ukraine.

In the conflict, FPV drones have been guided with pinpoint accuracy into open hatches of tanks and armored vehicles, detonating explosives inside. For Norway’s exercise, the drones carried tennis balls instead of live ordnance, simulating direct hits on Norwegian armoured units.

Defense News cited Major Tor Sellevold, from the Norwegian Army’s Combat Lab, as saying that the rationale behind the test is

“To simulate attacks on participating forces, tennis balls were dropped and FPVs were flown in dive attack patterns to replicate modern drone threats. The purpose was to provide insights into the aerial signature of their vehicles, expose vulnerabilities to top-down drone strikes, and evaluate their standard operating procedures.”

Over the course of ten sorties, more than 30 tennis balls were dropped, making this the first large-scale trial of attack drone capabilities by the Norwegian Army.

The lessons of Ukraine’s drone warfare loom large in Norway’s strategic thinking. In recent months, Ukrainian forces have demonstrated how cheap and rapidly evolving UAV technology can pose a significant threat to larger, more expensive military assets—including combat helicopters.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence has even announced plans to establish a 15-kilometre “kill zone” along the front lines, filled with surveillance and strike drones working in unison. The Norwegian military is watching these developments closely.

Citing an an officer from Norway’s military intelligence battalion, Defense News reported that the unit intends to operate drones from a greater distance than those used in frontline combat.

“Our unit will not be operating them close to the frontlines,” the officer said. “We will do so from further back, with longer-range drones.”

To enhance its surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, Norway plans to acquire drones designed for Arctic conditions, equipped with long-range cameras. During the Joint Viking exercise, the battalion also deployed the US-made Puma drone, produced by AeroVironment, to carry out surveillance missions.

The use of drones in military operations is evolving rapidly, forcing armies to rethink traditional battlefield tactics. For Norway, the sight of tennis balls raining down on tanks is a reminder that war-preparedness will require a lot of innovation.