The Department of Defense has announced a classified Strategy for Countering Unmanned Systems. The strategy includes five “strategic ways,” one of which focuses on disrupting and degrading threat networks that drive the development and proliferation of drones that pose threats to national security and U.S. assets overseas.
The DOD will partner with other U.S. government bodies to conduct campaigns against the drone threats, according to the strategy’s unclassified fact sheet.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who signed the strategy on Monday, noted that the rapid evolution of cheap adversarial unmanned systems has increasingly changed the battlefield, threatening U.S. forces and installations. He said the counter-drone strategy was swiftly developed to address current and future threats.
“The character of war is changing, and we will change with it,” stressed Austin, three-time Wash100 awardee.
Complementary Countermeasures
The strategy supports other DOD counter-drone efforts, such as the establishment of the Joint Counter-Small UAS Office and the Warfighter Senior Integration Group for urgent operational requirements, as well as the launch of Replicator 2, which aims to address threats of small drones.
Under the strategy’s roadmap, the DOD will also streamline the delivery of counter-drone systems through rapid procurement approaches. Additionally, the department will seek to expand its budget’s adjustability and reduce the cost imbalance between anti-drone measures and unmanned systems.