Exercise Ardent and the postwar air-defense test

Would large numbers of converted Lincoln target drones have improved Exercise Ardent?

No; the exercise needed crewed bombers that could react like a real attacking force and reveal weaknesses in the integrated defense.

Exercise Ardent tested whether RAF Bomber Command could penetrate a combined air defence involving Fighter Command, the Fleet Air Arm, Canadian squadrons, and other NATO participants. Lincolns, Washingtons, and Canberras supplied the attacking force needed to represent a long-range Soviet bomber threat. The exercise sought weaknesses in the defenders' ability to stop those bombers. Replacing the crewed aircraft with drones would reduce its realism because the drones would not react as an attacking bomber crew would. The available crewed force already provided the scale of attack required.