U.S. Military Races to Develop Drone Defenses
The U.S. military is swiftly working on new defenses to counter a threat it’s faced overseas but might also encounter at home: waves of enemy drones aiming at military bases and essential infrastructure.
This threat could be part of a broader military strike aimed at overwhelming American air defenses, combining sophisticated missiles with less expensive unmanned drones. The intelligence community suggests that countries like China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and Russia will keep developing one-way attack drones. These nations are likely to combine advanced missiles with cheaper weapons, making it more challenging for the U.S. to defend against missile attacks, as reported by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
“Right now, we occasionally see drones flying over military bases and civilian airports. Most are probably just hobbyists tinkering around, but some might have more malicious intentions,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Colonel and Senior Advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in an interview. “There aren’t many defenses available because these bases are often in populated areas. While we have developed technologies for drone defense and are approaching laser defenses, implementing them more broadly would be quite costly.”
Suat Cubukcu, an assistant professor of homeland security at Towson University, indicated that there’s no straightforward solution to tackle rogue drones. “We need a ‘Swiss cheese’ approach with multiple layers to close any gaps,” he advised. “With the variety of risks that drones pose, an effective layered defense is crucial, as each technology comes with its own limitations.”
The process of drone defense is complex. A counter-drone expert explained that it involves detecting, identifying, and defeating targets, and that the U.S. still has considerable work to do in integrating the necessary systems.
“Currently, we lack a comprehensive system that provides the necessary Detect, Identify, and Defeat (DID) capabilities. Therefore, we require a layered approach,” Jamey Jacob from the Counter-UAS Center of Excellence at Oklahoma State University explained. “For instance, using radar to detect drones, optical and acoustic systems to identify them, and radio frequency jammers to neutralize the threat. While various systems exist, we don’t have enough data to identify weaknesses in each one, especially when considering how they would work together.”
Defensive capabilities across the U.S. are not uniform. The more than 350 military installations in the country offer differing degrees of defense readiness, with individual services responsible for securing their bases, as noted by U.S. Northern Command.
“We must test these layered systems under various conditions to ensure we fill all the gaps,” Jacob emphasized. “So far, we’ve been fortunate that we haven’t experienced a significant attack.”
The risk from armed drones is not just theoretical. Recently, federal prosecutors charged eight individuals tied to a plot to attack the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House, suggesting an intent to use explosive drones in the process.
While the military is better prepared than it was a few years ago, vulnerabilities persist. Mark Roosevelt Ditlevson, the former acting assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, acknowledged this to lawmakers in April 2025, mentioning that the Pentagon struggled to monitor a series of drones seen near Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia back in December 2023.
The situation grows even more complicated with the potential for a foreign military to launch mass drone attacks. As FBI official Mike Torphy indicated, nation-state actors have the capacity to coordinate substantial drone swarms, and advancements in artificial intelligence are likely to simplify such operations.
Concerns regarding one-way attack drones like the Iranian-designed Shahed, already deployed effectively in places like Ukraine, were highlighted. Torphy reminded attendees that these threats should not be underestimated within U.S. territory.
“We are particularly vulnerable to mass attacks involving small, one-way drones,” Jacob noted. “These drones, which can be remotely controlled or pre-programmed, are difficult to detect and can bypass some defenses if the operators have prior knowledge of them.”
Conventional defenses, like surface-to-air missiles, may not be sufficient. The U.S. has seen its inventory of Patriot missiles drop below 1,000, and THAAD systems have been reduced following extensive use in combat scenarios, raising concerns about the Pentagon’s overall drone defense strategy.
In response, the Pentagon is exploring more affordable defense layers. The Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401) is testing experimental interceptor drones designed to collide with hostile UAVs and deploying additional non-kinetic systems to improve drone surveillance capabilities.
The Pentagon is also assessing the effectiveness of high-energy laser systems and microwave technologies at various military bases, aiming to determine whether such directed-energy approaches could enhance drone defenses.
Nonetheless, the primary issue may lie in scale rather than the lack of available counter-drone technology. A comprehensive defense against potential military drone assaults will likely require an integrated network of sensors, electronic warfare capabilities, affordable interceptor drones, directed-energy weapons, and traditional missile systems, rather than relying on one single method. As Army Colonel Tony Lindh noted, there’s simply no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to defending against drones.
