Matt Ross is a U.S. Army Brigadier General serving as director of jiatf-401 as of April 2026. He has framed the jiatf-401-marketplace as a tool for scaling the C-UAS industrial base “from the tactical edge to critical infrastructure protection in our homeland and for our allies and partners,” in announcing romania’s entry to the marketplace (see src-jiatf-401-marketplace-romania-2026-04).
May 2026 directed-energy 5-base pilot
Per src-directed-energy-5-bases-pilot-2026-05, Ross announced on May 7 2026 a Pentagon pilot to deploy directed-energy-weapons (high-energy lasers and high-powered microwaves) at five U.S. bases within 180 days. He framed the pilot as “no silver bullet” — DEW is one element of a layered defense, not a replacement for existing kinetic and RF C-UAS:
“Countering unlawful and adversarial drone activity is a homeland defense imperative. There is no ‘silver bullet’ to address this challenge, and this pilot program integrates cutting-edge technology into the department’s broader counterdrone toolkit.”