Overview
- Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Jarrard warned at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium on Thursday that many U.S. bases lack the sensors and “effectors” needed to detect, track and defeat small drone swarms before they reach targets.
- The Pentagon is accelerating a layered counter‑UAS push that includes radio‑frequency defeat, high‑power microwaves, small interceptors and plans to field directed‑energy lasers at multiple bases by year‑end.
- Officials have requested a large budget increase—reported as about $21 billion—for drones, counter‑drone weapons, munitions and related capabilities to close the shortfall in defenses.
- Operational examples driving urgency include Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web, which moved one‑way attack drones close to targets, and a March FPV strike that struck a U.S. air base in Baghdad.
- Commanders are folding counter‑drone tactics into NORAD/NORTHCOM homeland missions and working to link military sensors with local law enforcement and civilian detection systems because early warning is decisive for protection.