The Reading / Listening - Drones - Level 1

The British Army tested a weapon to destroy drones. The weapon uses radio waves to knock drones out of the sky. Many armies use drones to attack enemy soldiers and cities. Drones are good at attacking enemies. They can cause a lot of damage. Britain's new weapon uses radio waves to damage the computer chips inside drones. This makes the drones crash. The weapon can quickly bring down 100 drones. This gives armies an advantage in a war.

The U.K. spent $53 million on the anti-drone weapon. It is cheap to operate. It costs 18 cents to fire one shot at drones. A British Army bullet costs ten times more. The Army wanted to find cheaper ways to defend its soldiers. An Army spokesperson said drones are seen more and more in combat in Ukraine. He said that last year, Ukraine had to defend itself against attacks from more than 18,000 drones.

Try the same news story at these levels:

    Drones - Level 0 Drones - Level 2   or  Drones - Level 3

Sources
  • https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2025/04/17/in-first-british-army-uses-radio-wave-weapon-to-knock-out-drone-swarm/
  • https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uk-new-radio-wave-weapon-rapiddestroyer-takes-down-drone-swarms/
  • https://www.ft.com/content/41703199-201e-4702-b34a-a0a633cdfcf5


Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)

Phrase Matching

Paragraph 1

  1. attack enemy
  2. Drones are good at
  3. They can cause a lot
  4. Britain's new weapon uses
  5. damage the computer chips
  6. This makes the drones
  7. quickly bring
  8. This gives armies an advantage
  1. down 100 drones
  2. radio waves
  3. attacking enemies
  4. in a war
  5. soldiers
  6. inside drones
  7. crash
  8. of damage

Paragraph 2

  1. The U.K. spent
  2. It is cheap
  3. It costs 18 cents
  4. A British Army bullet costs ten
  5. find cheaper
  6. defend its
  7. drones are seen more and
  8. defend itself
  1. to fire one shot
  2. soldiers
  3. against attacks
  4. $53 million
  5. more in combat
  6. to operate
  7. times more
  8. ways

Listening — Listen and fill in the gaps

The British Army (1) ________________________________________________ to destroy drones. The weapon uses radio waves to knock drones out (2) ________________________________________________. Many armies use drones to attack enemy soldiers and cities. Drones are (3) ________________________________________________ enemies. They can cause a lot of damage. Britain's new weapon uses radio (4) ________________________________________________ the computer chips inside drones. (5) ________________________________________________ drones crash. The weapon can quickly bring down 100 drones. This gives armies (6) ________________________________________________ a war.

The U.K. spent $53 (7) ________________________________________________ anti-drone weapon. It is (8) ________________________________________________. It costs 18 cents to (9) ________________________________________________ at drones. A British Army bullet costs ten times more. The Army wanted to find cheaper (10) ________________________________________________ its soldiers. An Army spokesperson said drones are seen more and (11) ________________________________________________ in Ukraine. He said that last year, Ukraine had to defend itself (12) ________________________________________________ more than 18,000 drones.

Put a slash (/) where the spaces are

TheBritishArmytestedaweapontodestroydrones.Theweaponusesra
diowavestoknockdronesoutofthesky.Manyarmiesusedronestoattac
kenemysoldiersandcities.Dronesaregoodatattackingenemies.Theyc
ancausealotofdamage.Britain'snewweaponusesradiowavestodama
gethecomputerchipsinsidedrones.Thismakesthedronescrash.Thew
eaponcanquicklybringdown100dronesThisgivesarmiesanadvantag
einawar.TheU.K.spent$53millionontheanti-droneweapon.Itische
aptooperate.Itcosts18centstofireoneshotatdrones.ABritishArmybul
letcoststentimesmore.TheArmywantedtofindcheaperwaystodefend
itssoldiers.AnArmyspokespersonsaiddronesareseenmoreandmorei
ncombatinUkraine.Hesaidthatlastyear,Ukrainehadtodefenditselfag
ainstattacksfrommorethan18,000drones.

Student survey

Write five GOOD questions about this topic in the table. Do this in pairs. Each student must write the questions on his / her own paper. When you have finished, interview other students. Write down their answers.

(Please look at page 12 of the PDF to see a photocopiable example of this activity.)

Discussion — Write your own questions

STUDENT A’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

(a) ________________

(b) ________________

(c) ________________

(d) ________________

(e) ________________

(f) ________________

(g) ________________

(h) ________________

STUDENT B’s QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

(i) ________________

(j) ________________

(k) ________________

(l) ________________

(m) ________________

(n) ________________

(o) ________________

(p) ________________

Free writing

Write about this topic for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Answers

(Please check your answers against the article above.

Help Support This Web Site

  • Please consider helping Breaking News English.com

Sean Banville's Book

Thank You