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Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401)

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Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401)

U.S. Army-led Pentagon task force chartered to build out the U.S. military’s counter-unmanned-aerial-system capability across both overseas-combat and homeland-defense missions. Director (April 2026): Brig. Gen. matt-ross; deputy director (May 2026): Col. scott-mclellan; lead acquisitions specialist: Maj. matt-mellor; spokesperson: Lt. Col. adam-scher. Framed as the department-of-war’s lead organization for rapidly fielding C-UAS systems and aligning allied approaches.

April 2026 commitments

Per DefenseScoop reporting:

  • Total committed: >$600 million in C-UAS investment.
  • ~$350M directed to CENTCOM’s Operation Epic Fury in just the first ~30 days of the Iran war — capabilities both already-fielded and not-yet-delivered.
  • Domestic spending: $20M+ at the southern border (13 sensors, 7 mitigation systems, 12+ data platforms; Wingman, Pitbull, and Smart Shooter rifle-mounted optics) and broad C-UAS investment across the 11 host cities of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
  • FY2027 budget request proposes a “massive increase” on top of FY2026 dollars.

tom-karako (CSIS) argues the drone problem has been “artificially divided” between combat and homeland — JIATF-401 is the institutional answer.

May 2026 — Directed-energy 5-base pilot

Per src-directed-energy-5-bases-pilot-2026-05, JIATF-401 announced on May 7 2026 a Pentagon pilot to field directed-energy-weapons (high-energy lasers and high-powered microwaves) at five U.S. bases within 180 days: naval-base-kitsap (Navy, WA), fort-bliss (Army, TX), fort-huachuca (Army, AZ), grand-forks-afb (USAF, ND), and whiteman-afb (USAF, MO). Brig. Gen. Matt Ross framed the pilot as “no silver bullet” — DEW is one element of a layered defense alongside the existing kinetic and RF C-UAS portfolio. Col. scott-mclellan cited white-sands-missile-range tests and U.S.-Mexico-border operational use as evidence that DE C-UAS does not pose “undue risk to passenger aircraft.”

NCR exercise and procurement (April 2026)

Per src-bumblebee-v2-ncr-counterdrone-2026-04:

  • Joint exercise with jtf-ncr at fort-belvoir training 3rd-infantry-regiment on Bumblebee V1 kinetic effector.
  • Procured DroneHunter F700 (Fortem) net-capture interceptors and Bumblebee V2 FPV multi-rotor.
  • March 2026 faa joint high-energy laser C-UAS test prioritizing civil-aviation safety.
  • Spearheaded a U.S.-UK common C-UAS data standards initiative for interoperability.
  • Spokesperson: Lt. Col. adam-scher.
  • Published a guide on regulating use of C-UAS detection technologies.

March 2026 — Anduril $20B enterprise IDIQ + Lattice C2

Per Breaking Defense: JIATF-401 selected anduril’s Lattice software as the C-UAS C2 backbone in an 20B / 10-year firm-fixed-price enterprise IDIQ. The vehicle consolidates 120 prior Army-Anduril contracts and is open to Pentagon-wide ordering. Sits alongside the jiatf-401-marketplace (allied procurement) as twin pillars of JIATF-401’s expanded procurement architecture.

April 2026 — JIATF-401 Marketplace partner expansion

Per U.S. Army release: the Secretary of the Army and romania’s Minister of National Defense signed an agreement enabling Romania to procure C-UAS capabilities through the jiatf-401-marketplace. Romania becomes the second named partner nation after the united-kingdom. The Army secretary’s stated goal is 25 partner nations by end of summer 2026. Brig. Gen. matt-ross frames the marketplace as scaling the C-UAS industrial base “from the tactical edge to critical infrastructure protection.”

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