SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- The 52nd Civil Engineer Squadron explosive ordnance disposal flight hosted eight teams from six partner nations for the 2026 Eifel Krabben Improvised Explosive Device Rodeo exercise that integrated unmanned aircraft systems for the first time here, August 24-September 3, 2026.
The exercise brought partner nation teams together for large-scale, realistic, scenario-based training designed to build technical proficiency, strengthen interoperability and encourage the exchange of tactics, techniques and procedures.
“One thing that we've been able to employ this year that’s been completely different was having drones involved,” said Tech. Sgt. Gerardo Perez, 52nd CES EOD training noncommissioned officer in charge. “One of my favorite parts was bringing the most emergent threats to the community in a training environment and seeing how they reacted, so we could see how TTPs were different between countries.”
With the integration of UAS, visiting teams were authorized to bring and operate their own drones during scenarios, while 52nd CES EOD technicians used drones to replicate opposing-force threats, said Perez. The addition of UAS reflected a shift toward preparing participants to operate in increasingly complex aerial-threat environments.
Participating teams identified and responded to drone operations and often adjusted their approach as scenarios developed. Rather than replacing established EOD procedures, these systems introduced an additional factor for teams to consider as they assessed the scene, coordinated with teammates and determined an appropriate course of action.
Over 10 days, teams worked through a variety of scenarios, including trench clearing, hostage situations and shotgun mine training in contested environments, said Senior Airman Jared Pommerencke, 52nd CES EOD team member. The exercise also gave technicians the opportunity to observe a range of equipment used by allied law enforcement agencies, including robotics platforms and detection systems.
“There’s definitely an array of different manufacturers and contracts, and it was impressive to see how they employed their equipment, including the robotics platforms,” said Pommerencke. “German Polizei also joined us this year, and they had some large-scale and small-scale robot systems. It was a little different than what we employ, so it was nice to see how they used their equipment and made it effective as well.”
As the event concluded, personnel planned to carry lessons learned into future home-station training, including opportunities to build more complex scenarios with installation and foreign partners.
“The IED Rodeo is always the pinnacle event of our training here at Spangdahlem AB,” said Pommerencke. “Every year we’re making it bigger and better. Between the programming and coding, we have guys soldering circuit boards and making the best training aids possible for ourselves and our NATO partners.”