Italy’s armed forces have run several robot and drone trials and exercises in 2026. Most official releases describe the activities without naming the systems or companies involved. This roundup lists what was reported, by date.

February: a robotic carrier for paratroopers

Defence Blog reported on February 26 that the 187th Paratroopers Regiment “Folgore” had begun operational integration testing of the Wild Goose IMRS, a remotely controlled robotic transport platform from Israel’s Marom Dolphin, for logistics and casualty evacuation. Militarnyi repeated the report, citing Defence Blog. Lens found no Italian Army release about it, and no outcome or duration has been reported.

February and July: Veco Robotics’ Cesare at NATO events

Veco Robotics, a company in Puglia, said its four-legged robot, the Q-UGV “Cesare,” took part in NATO’s STEADFAST DART 26 exercise in Bergen, Germany, on February 19, feeding video and data into the Italian Army’s battle management system; Lens found no independent confirmation. Formiche reported on July 9 that Cesare was among the systems tested at the Torre Veneri range near Lecce during TFX-CentMed, an Italy-led NATO experiment that linked about 160 sensors, and noted that taking part is not a definitive selection or a purchase by NATO. Formiche said the robot uses a technology base developed by the US company Ghost Robotics, which Veco integrates with sensors, software and communications.

May: last-mile logistics at Monte Romano

An Army General Staff release published by Difesa Online on May 28 said a four-week phase of experimentation on Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS), run by the Army’s Evaluation and Innovation Command (COMVIE) at the Monte Romano range, had concluded. It focused on distributed logistics for the “last mile” and on the systems’ ability to reduce risk to personnel. The program began in 2022. Personnel came from the 3rd Alpini Regiment and the 185th Paratroopers Artillery Regiment. The release names no companies or systems; photo captions credited to the Army and published by Difesa News show a LEM ArmScout1 small tracked ground robot and a SIRALAB SR-X1 micro drone. Gen. Francesco Olla, COMVIE’s commander, said the aim was to bring field-tested prototypes to full maturity by measuring the key performance indicators needed to draft operational requirements and start procurement (translated from Italian).

June: a wing for drone pilots

The Air Force formed its 66th Wing at Frosinone’s Girolamo Moscardini airport on June 18 to train military drone pilots, ANSA reported, with basic, advanced and specialist courses in line with joint and NATO standards. It is commanded by Col. Marco Santeramo.

September: Aegis 26

President Sergio Mattarella and Defence Minister Guido Crosetto attended the Aegis 26 exercise at Monte Romano on September 17, which involved more than 850 personnel, ANSA reported. The Army’s release mentions remotely piloted assets, partly built in-house, used for reconnaissance and against defensive positions, and Folgore equipment for tactical micro-mobility, but names no systems. Press reports added quadruped “robot dogs” (forzearmate.org, Infodifesa) and ground drones for crossing trenches; alanews described the robot dogs as armed, which the Army release does not say. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Carmine Masiello said that conflicts today combine conventional warfare with technological and cognitive warfare: “trenches and minefields coexist with drones, cyber attacks and disinformation” (translated from Italian).

Defence Blog reported that the Ukrainian company DevDroid’s armed ground robots took part in Aegis 26 alongside the ULISSE robot of the Italian company ABET HTS; DevDroid’s own release does not name the exercise. See Lens’s report on that trial. For Italian companies in the field, see Lens’s overview of Italian defense robotics and drone startups.

Sources and notes

Sources: Defence Blog, February 26, 2026; Militarnyi, February 26 (Ukrainian); Veco Robotics news posts; Formiche, July 9 (Italian); Army General Staff release via Difesa Online, May 28 (Italian); Ares Difesa, May 28 (Italian); Difesa News, May 31 (Italian); ANSA, June 18 (Italian); FrosinoneToday, June 18 (Italian); ANSA via Il Nord Est, September 17 (Italian); Army release via Ares Difesa, September 18 (Italian); alanews, September 17 (Italian); Infodifesa, September 18 (Italian); forzearmate.org, September 22 (Italian); Defence Blog, October 1. Notes: the Army’s own website could not be opened, so its releases were read through the reproductions above. The ArmScout1 and SR-X1 captions were seen only via Difesa News. Veco’s STEADFAST DART 26 participation is a company claim. No source names the make of the robot dogs at Aegis 26 or the Ghost Robotics model on which Cesare is based. Thumbnail photo: a Ghost Robotics Vision 60 quadruped on the airfield at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, in 2020, by Tech. Sgt. Cory D. Payne, U.S. Air Force, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; cropped. Illustrative stand-in: it does not show Cesare or any Italian trial.

Image: Tech. Sgt. Cory D. Payne, U.S. Air Force (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons.