Counter-UAS
Doctrine, sensors, and effectors for detecting, tracking, and defeating small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS). Encompasses both kinetic and non-kinetic approaches: radar/EO/IR detection, RF and GPS jamming, directed energy, hard-kill kinetic interceptors, and cued small-arms fire.
Operational portfolio (April 2026)
- flyaway-kit — NORTHCOM transportable C-UAS sensor/effector package for homeland defense; includes Anduril Anvil interceptors. Defeated a drone over a strategic U.S. installation during Operation Epic Fury’s opening hours.
- sky-map-c-uas — Ukrainian C2 platform deployed by U.S. forces to prince-sultan-air-base in April 2026 to plug a gap in centcom C-UAS coverage.
- Lattice (Anduril) — AI-enabled, open-architecture C2 software; March 2026 became JIATF-401’s C-UAS C2 backbone via an 20B enterprise IDIQ (src-anduril-army-20b-counter-drone-idiq-2026-03).
- coyote-interceptor — Raytheon kinetic interceptor; suspected (per tom-karako) of doing “the lion’s share of the drone killing” in CENTCOM.
- V2 — JIATF-401 small low-collateral kinetic effector (V1) and FPV multi-rotor interceptor (V2); follow-home and air-to-air defeat CONOPS; trained at fort-belvoir with 3rd-infantry-regiment in April 2026 (src-bumblebee-v2-ncr-counterdrone-2026-04).
- DroneHunter F700 — Fortem net-capture interceptor procured by JIATF-401.
- High-energy laser — jiatf-401/faa joint test in March 2026 prioritizing civil-aviation safety; underwrites the May 2026 5-base directed-energy-weapons pilot at naval-base-kitsap, fort-bliss, fort-huachuca, grand-forks-afb, and whiteman-afb (src-directed-energy-5-bases-pilot-2026-05).
- High-powered microwave — paired with HEL in the May 2026 directed-energy-weapons pilot (src-directed-energy-5-bases-pilot-2026-05).
- Merops — AI-enabled optical-tracking C-UAS system fielded in CENTCOM.
- Smart Shooter — rifle-mounted fire-control optic for engaging small drones; deployed at the southern border.
- Wingman, Pitbull — additional border C-UAS systems funded by jiatf-401.
Institutional posture
jiatf-401 (Joint Interagency Task Force 401) is the Pentagon’s Army-led C-UAS capability builder. Per April 2026 reporting, JIATF-401 has committed >350M to operation-epic-fury in just the first month. Domestic spend includes the southern border and the 2026 FIFA World Cup across 11 host cities (src-counter-drone-middle-east-jiatf-2026-04).
Pentagon officials have publicly described U.S. C-UAS capability as “lagging,” and SOF News reports the U.S. has “suffered casualties and damage to high-value aircraft and military equipment” from Iranian drones (src-epic-fury-update-2026-04). tom-karako argues the drone problem has been “artificially divided” between overseas combat and homeland defense.
JIATF-401 has also led a U.S.-UK effort to establish common C-UAS data standards for interoperability (src-bumblebee-v2-ncr-counterdrone-2026-04).
FY27 budget framing
Hegseth’s April 29, 2026 house-armed-services-committee posture testimony names “drone dominance” as a top FY27 priority and frames “autonomous warfare” as a competitor-investment area, providing the budget umbrella under which JIATF-401’s >$600M is being scaled (src-hegseth-fy27-posture-testimony-2026-04). golden-dome-for-america is cited as the named homeland aerial-threat-defense program.
Procurement architecture (March-April 2026)
Two new mechanisms expanded the C-UAS procurement architecture:
- Army enterprise IDIQ (87M for Lattice C2 software supporting JIATF-401 (src-anduril-army-20b-counter-drone-idiq-2026-03).
- JIATF-401 Marketplace — Army-run procurement marketplace opening to NATO partners; UK was the first, romania the second (April 2026), with a stated goal of 25 partner nations by end of summer 2026 (src-jiatf-401-marketplace-romania-2026-04).
Legislative authority track
Authority to defeat unidentified drones over U.S. territory is expanding via statute:
- Safer Skies Act (FY2025 NDAA) — extended limited C-UAS authority to state/local/tribal/territorial law enforcement.
- COUNTER Act (2026 NDAA) — expanded “covered facility” so base commanders at any military base with a secure perimeter can defeat unidentified drones; sponsored by Rep. gabe-vasquez in response to incursions at white-sands-missile-range (src-counter-act-secure-skies-bills-2026-04).
- Secure Our Skies Drone Safety Act of 2025 — proposed bipartisan GAO audit of federal/state/local/tribal C-UAS use.
UK posture
UK has no equivalent of JIATF-401 or flyaway-kit for homeland counter-sUAS. British GBAD (sky-sabre ~25 km, Type 45) is small and ballistic-only at sea (src-uk-airspace-defense-gap-2024-11).
Related Pages
- drone-incursions
- jiatf-401
- jiatf-401-marketplace
- lattice-c2
- army-enterprise-contracts
- operation-epic-fury
- flyaway-kit
- sky-map-c-uas
- coyote-interceptor
- shahed-drone
- centcom
- usnorthcom
- anduril
- palantir
- operation-spider-web
- bumblebee-counter-uas
- fortem-technologies
- counter-act
- secure-our-skies-drone-safety-act
- safer-skies-act
- ground-based-air-defence
- cartel-drone-threat
- romania
- united-kingdom