Picture kilometer-long columns of destroyed tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. Drones fly overhead while electromagnetic sensors silently parse through frantic radio transmissions. Thousands of soldiers are massed for an attack, only to stall under pummeling indirect fires. This scene could easily describe contemporary combat as warfare’s changing character makes reconnaissance and strike platforms available to any potential US adversary. But rather than an anecdote from a distant conflict, this scenario is what the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment “Blackhorse”—the National Training Center’s (NTC) resident opposing force unit—has begun to inflict on rotational training units (RTUs). At NTC, the realities of reconnaissance-strike battle are painfully present, posing a challenge for RTUs that can prepare them to face the real threat on future battlefields.
Centaur Squadron, Blackhorse’s purpose-built reconnaissance-strike complex, organically combines wheeled antitank and armored transport vehicles, scouts, unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operators, and electronic warfare (EW) assets. These platforms offer a combination of high tactical mobility, long-range observation, and dense firepower that feeds directly into the regimental targeting and integration cell to complete the kill chain. Centaur can also expand depending on mission variables to include light infantry, mortar carriers, and engineers.
During NTC decisive action rotation 25-07 in May 2025, we experienced Centaur’s power firsthand while attached to the squadron. Fighting against a US Army armored brigade combat team (ABCT), our own organic formation, the connection between reconnaissance-strike battle theory and lethal battlefield effects quickly became apparent. Just as NTC has adapted to replicate the emerging battlefield’s technological and organizational realities, ABCTs—and other brigade combat teams (BCTs)—can leverage emerging technologies too. Multifunctional reconnaissance-strike companies, combining mobile infantry, reconnaissance and strike UAS, and EW assets, can enable the brigade combat team to win the reconnaissance-strike battle, enabling decisive combined arms maneuver. Though only one anecdote from the field, we believe our experience fighting with Centaur Squadron holds important lessons for how BCTs can prepare to win their fight at the NTC and in large-scale combat operations.
Centaur Squadron and Reconnaissance-Strike Battle
Reconnaissance-strike battle conceptually connects multidomain operations from the strategic and operational echelons to the tactical. Where multidomain operations doctrine integrates joint capabilities across the air, space, land, sea, and information domains, reconnaissance-strike battle synchronizes and employs mission-relevant multidomain capabilities at the tactical level. In a military-technological environment where the US Army’s adversaries possess the tools and organizational structures needed to create a reconnaissance-strike complex, the reconnaissance-strike battle will see friendly and opposing reconnaissance-strike complexes duel to establish multidomain superiority over one another. The side that gains multidomain superiority will gain the opportunity to exercise combined arms maneuver on the battlefield.
Centaur Squadron reflects this emerging dynamic with its organic fusion of sensors and shooters, along with its direct organizational linkage to the regimental targeting and integration cell at the kill chain’s center. Centaur’s five operational principles—flexible task organization, manned-unmanned teaming, layered reconnaissance, intelligence-derived maneuver, and tactical control of operational-level enablers—allow it to rapidly deploy into the division tactical group security zone, gain and maintain contact with RTU elements, and attrit them using manned and unmanned strike systems. As the RTU attempts to deploy itself, Centaur Squadron fights the reconnaissance-strike battle across its depth. Denying both the RTU’s own reconnaissance efforts and its attempts to mass combat power for combined arms maneuver, Centaur forces it to culminate prematurely.
Infantry in the Reconnaissance-Strike Complex
During our rotation as guest Blackhorse light infantry, our company fought the reconnaissance-strike battle as part of Centaur Squadron. Light infantry provides two important qualities that complement other elements of the reconnaissance-strike complex: Its small signature makes it highly survivable against multidomain threats, and it can carry multidomain sensor and strike payloads deep into the battlefield’s most restricted terrain. While antitank scout vehicles are pushing deep into the division tactical group reconnaissance zone, road-mobile light infantry forces follow close behind to establish mountaintop observation posts from which they can sense and identify enemy elements miles away. Infantry forces can carry a variety of man-portable equipment with them, from first-person-view drones to antitank missiles and radio direction finders. Importantly, light infantry forces can immediately shift from fighting the broader reconnaissance-strike battle to repelling enemy attacks on their positions or taking the ground fight to the enemy. This factor, combined with infantry’s inherently low signature compared to mounted units, makes it highly lethal and survivable on a transparent battlefield where armored formations have proven vulnerable to precision-strike kill chains.
Evidence of infantry’s importance in the reconnaissance-strike battle is already apparent from the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. At a critical moment in Ukraine’s 2023 summer counteroffensive, a single Russian infantry platoon emplaced on a hilltop stalled the Ukrainian Army’s push south for twenty-four hours, buying enough time for the Russians to further entrench their lines behind the hilltop while continuing to attrit Ukrainian forces using strike assets. Both Ukraine and Russia rely on light infantry to progress forward on a battlefield where kill chains detect and strike armored and mechanized elements miles from the forward line of troops. Dismounted infantry formations disperse their combat power across dozens of individual soldiers in a platoon or company, can conceal and entrench themselves in restricted terrain that enhances survivability, and are still able to bring significant firepower to bear at long ranges using missiles and attack UAS.
Centaur’s Light Infantry at NTC
Though Centaur Squadron’s approach, and the emerging battlefield conditions facing the Army, appear daunting, BCTs have the capacity to tackle this challenge. During rotation 25-07’s Phase I, Centaur Squadron’s light infantry platoons seized key terrain overlooking the major east-west avenues of approach, providing up to fifteen kilometers of unobstructed visual observation. Antitank trucks then flowed through the mountain passes, penetrating even deeper into the security zone. This combination disrupted the ABCT as its units uncoiled, preventing them from initiating forward movement, let alone attacking Centaur’s infantry in the passes.
Although scout elements made some demonstrations against the infantry positions on the ridgelines, at no point did the RTU make a discernible attempt to dislodge us or our sister platoons from our observation posts. This was to their detriment, as we could observe almost the entire ABCT’s frontage from several kilometers away, providing advance warning of massing combat power for a concentrated push across the valley and the opportunity to pass targeting information up the kill chain.
Phase II featured the RTU’s attempt to breach Blackhorse’s main defensive line and capture the city of Razish. Blackhorse tanks and infantry fighting vehicles monitored their engagement areas while engineers had already emplaced antitank obstacles including dragon’s teeth, mines, and ditches. Once again, Centaur Squadron emplaced its light infantry in mountainous, restricted terrain overlooking the main defensive line’s approaches, as antitank trucks drove forward deep into the reconnaissance zone. Seeing RTU forces creep their way toward the breach, the antitank trucks could easily identify their disposition and objectives. Company after company of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles arrayed in neat formations may have been easier for their commanders to control and maneuver, but they were impossible to hide from Centaur Squadron.
After successfully attriting the ABCT’s first elements bearing down on the breach, the antitank trucks retrograded and handed the fight off to the light infantry. From their position, the platoons could see almost a dozen kilometers across the valley approaching the breach and passed accurate fires targets up to feed the kill chain. When what survived of this element crossed within two kilometers, the infantry engaged with antitank missiles, stalling the breach. Centaur Squadron, with the tank company on the near side of the breach, was able to bottle up the RTU’s main effort by feeding the Blackhorse kill chain faster than the ABCT could respond, winning the reconnaissance-strike battle. The RTU made piecemeal attempts to dislodge the infantry from the hills, but never enough to prevent them from disrupting the breach or maneuvering on rear-echelon high-value targets including air-defense Strykers. Additionally, if infantry or scout elements from the ABCT had seized our hilltops, they would have had nearly unobstructed observation of every Blackhorse battle position overlooking the main defensive line, and could have passed targeting information up their own kill chain.
This pattern repeated itself during Phase III. Blackhorse set another main defensive line with its tank and mechanized infantry battalions overlooking engagement areas in a valley while Centaur Squadron occupied key terrain and pushed antitank trucks forward. As the RTU maneuvered westward toward its breach, the massed formations of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles evoked real-world scenes of Russian armor massing for attacks on cities such as Vuhledar and being destroyed in the process.
How BCTs Can Prepare to Win the Reconnaissance-Strike Battle
Centaur Squadron combines emerging military technologies and existing platforms to enable rapid target identification as part of Blackhorse’s reconnaissance-strike complex. Observation—whether through a UAS, EW collection, or an infantryman’s binoculars—is Centaur’s most dangerous weapon, and one that RTUs can take meaningful steps to counter by simply changing their behavior. As a BCT prepares for its fight, identifying key terrain that provides long-range unobstructed observation is critical. Centaur will almost certainly emplace observers there, who will identify and direct fires on any RTU elements within range. RTU forces can effectively use terrain to obscure themselves from these points as they approach, something the ABCT came close to doing on several occasions during rotation 25-07. In addition, as we ourselves realized while defending the main defensive line during Phase II, leaders must recognize that key terrain is as relevant for friendly forces as it is for the enemy. If an enemy infantry platoon with tank and preparatory fires support had attacked our hilltop and seized it, it could have decimated Blackhorse’s entire defense in that sector of the main defensive line by passing accurate targeting information to the RTU kill chain.
BCTs can only effectively maneuver on Centaur Squadron, however, if they eschew massed formations for smaller maneuver elements, potentially at the section level or below. Centaur Squadron’s observers can easily spot a tank or mechanized infantry platoon up to ten kilometers away from an elevated observation post. Companies and battalions are visually observable from even farther away, and only the weather and platform range limit UAS or EW systems. In comparison, light infantry’s small signature allows small units to infiltrate great distances with a far lower chance of detection by the enemy’s reconnaissance-strike complex. The urge to consolidate forces, easing control over them, is understandable, especially when navigating long-distance movements in the desert. Mission command, however, offers a promising alternative. Dispersing individual vehicles at release points outside Centaur’s sectors in the reconnaissance zone, with clear commander’s intent and a rally point to mass combat power just before the attack, can help commanders maintain surprise and audacity. The Russian Army has already learned this lesson in Ukraine, often releasing entire sections or platoons to maneuver on an objective as individual soldiers to avoid omnipresent attack UAS destroying them in massed formations.
Centaur’s natural habitat is restricted terrain. Whether it be hilltops, rock piles, villages, or draws, restricted terrain allows Centaur Squadron to hide in plain sight while observing the RTU at a distance. If BCT elements can see it, they can be seen from it. BCTs cannot afford to neglect restricted terrain and must at least actively reconnoiter these positions to enable their own freedom of maneuver elsewhere on the battlefield. This means that infantrymen, especially those in a reconnaissance-strike complex, must be physically fit enough to move several miles across Class 2 and 3 terrain just to reach the fight. The tank fight on open plains depends on how effectively infantry can dislodge observers nestled in hilltops, while the infantry fight in the cities depends on well the BCT can observe avenues of approach leading to them.
The RTU was eventually able to take the fight to Centaur Squadron using its own emerging technologies. Shortly after our platoon observed unknown reconnaissance drones near our positions during Phase I, drone-observed indirect fires destroyed the company’s supply trucks and command post a few hundred meters away. Had the RTU attacked at this moment, it could have dislodged the infantry from the key terrain, opened the passes, and maneuvered armor-infantry teams through them unopposed. Centaur Squadron kills the enemy by observing its forces at a distance, including with UAS and EW systems, but is just as vulnerable to ABCTs who can effectively use theirs.
Winning The First Fight
Several BCTs across the Army have already made progress toward winning the reconnaissance-strike battle. We believe that the multifunctional reconnaissance-strike company builds on these existing efforts while reflecting the payload-agnostic nature of small UAS platforms. As a brigade-level asset, this company would combine the reduced signature and high mobility of infantry with the survivability and firepower of a combat formation armed with antitank missiles and strike UAS. The soldiers in this formation must be physically fit enough to traverse miles of difficult terrain and reach observation posts close to the enemy’s manned zone, from where they can feed targeting information up the kill chain while engaging with missiles and strike UAS. They must also be competent and well-trained enough to accomplish this task, exercising mission command with a high degree of autonomy. A unit with the right people, equipment, and training can win the reconnaissance-strike duel, enabling combined arms maneuver for the rest of the BCT. Thanks to recent policy changes aimed at “unleashing U.S. military drone dominance,” brigade commanders can foster this change at their level and equip their formations for reconnaissance-strike battle.
NTC rotations have tested generations of Army leaders in the closest thing possible to real ground combat at the brigade scale. The next generation of Army leaders, preparing to fight a war in which local American military supremacy is not guaranteed, can expect challenging and technologically realistic training when they come to NTC. Centaur Squadron represents Blackhorse’s nod to emerging military technologies and the novel task organizations that maximize their effectiveness on the battlefield. This poses a major challenge to any BCT, but its value to them is as a forcing function to adapt or fail. Learning to fight Centaur in this training environment, a feat within reach of any brigade in the Army, will prepare units to counter dangerous emerging threats on a rapidly changing battlefield.
Captain George Pavlakis is a US Army officer who served as a guest Blackhorse light infantry platoon leader for NTC rotation 25-07. He currently serves in 1-68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, holds degrees from the United States Military Academy and the Technical University of Munich, and has deployed to Poland.
Sgt. 1st Class Randall Towles is a US Army noncommissioned officer who served as a guest Blackhorse light infantry platoon sergeant for NTC rotation 25-07. He currently serves in 1-68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, and has deployed to Afghanistan, Senegal, and Poland.
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the United States Military Academy, Department of the Army, or Department of Defense.
Image credit: Spc. Christopher Bailey, US Army