Eyes in the sky: gamers called up as army bets on march of the drones

Years honing games console skills have paid off for soldiers chosen to fight a virtual battle on Salisbury Plain

- writes Rachel Sylvester, Political Editor

LEFT A marine operates a military drone while taking part in the Titan Storm exercise on Salisbury Plain.

A drone rises into the air and speeds across the open expanse of grass towards the enemy.

A young soldier guides it carefully with the controller in his hand, using the image on the screen to place it precisely over his target. He releases the missile; it falls to the ground and explodes. His comrades congratulate him: "Marine Lee has his first kill." The soldier is thrilled. "It's addictive," he says.

The weapon is in fact a water balloon filled with red paint but in a real battle it would be a hand grenade with a "kill zone" of 8 metres (26ft). Five men would have been taken out from hundreds of metres away with the press of a button.

The soldiers are part of Titan Storm, a training exercise on Salisbury Plain. The army has always run war games, but this one is different. For the first time, drones have been integrated into the imaginary battlefield alongside tanks and helicopters as the Ministry of Defence (MoD) prepares for the reality of modern war.