Soldiers from 5th Armored Brigade, First Army Division West, developed a course of instruction to counter the threat of commercial, off-the-shelf unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles at McGregor Range Complex, N.M., June 28, 2019.(Photo by Staff Sgt. Mylinda DuRousseau)
EDWARDS AFB, Calif.— Congress wants more information from the Pentagon on what authorities and technologies it needs to protect military installations from the threat of drone incursions, as a spate of high-profile incidents spark concerns that adversaries could use drones to exploit weaknesses in US base security.
The compromise version of the fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, released on Saturday, includes several provisions aimed at improving the US military’s response to potential drone threats to its installations, including the creation of a counter-drone strategy.
In addition to the mandate for the strategy — which was originally included in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the bill — it requires that the department conduct an assessment of the existing counter-UAS enterprise. The bill also calls for the department to provide recommendations for how to change existing policy to reduce the requirements that the Pentagon coordinate certain responses to drone incursions with other federal organizations.
Other language would compel the Pentagon to create and maintain a c-UAS threat library, which would include information on counter-drone solutions and catalogue all drone incursions that occur at US military installations.
“We agree that U.S. troops have the inherent right of self defense, including from UAS attacks, wherever they may be,” the explanatory statement accompanying the bill said. At the same time, the conference version of the bill did not include a Senate provision that would require the Pentagon to provide a plan to speed up the testing, demonstration and validation of technologies needed to support the strategy.
The release of the new NDAA comes just days after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed off on a classified strategy on countering unmanned systems on Dec. 2, leaving it unclear whether the Pentagon has already done enough to satisfy Congress’s mandate. The classified strategy document lays out a roadmap for near-term and future solutions for mitigating drone threats, the department said in a news release.
“A critical portion of our efforts, particularly in the near-term, comes from improving our defenses, with an emphasis on detection as well as active and passive defenses,” said an unclassified fact sheet for the strategy. “The Department will ensure our forces and priority installations have protection.”
The Pentagon has documented hundreds of drone incursions over US military installations over the past few years, US Northern Command (NORTHCOM) leaders said in October.
RELATED: NORTHCOM head wants new integration role in counter-UAS ops
Those include multiple incursions at Joint Base Langley Eustis in Virginia in December 2023, which involved varying numbers of drones in different sizes and configurations, the Air Force said in a statement earlier this year. As a result, F-22 stealth fighters located at the base were forced to temporarily relocate and suspend nighttime training missions, the Wall Street Journal reported in October.
Another acknowledged incident involved incursions at Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif., — an Air Force installation where tenant contractors like Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works and Northrop Grumman develop and produce experimental, classified aircraft. The location is technically a component of Edwards Air Force Base, which is located about 20 miles northeast and provides base security.
An Air Force spokeswoman told the War Zone that the service had “observed multiple UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] activities over Plant 42 during the last few months,” and worked with the Federal Aviation Administration to impose temporary flight restrictions around Plant 42.
So far, the drone incursions have been limited to Plant 42 and have not projected into Edwards AFB, Brig. Gen. Doug Wickert, commander of its 412th Test Wing, told reporters during a visit to the base last week.
Wickert said he “felt very supported” in the wake of the incidents by NORTHCOM, which is taking a leading role in synchronizing counter-drone activities across the department. Edwards is currently in the process of testing and deploying several additional c-UAS systems, he said, adding that the open desert skies of the base provides an easier detection environment than more urban, congested locations like Langley AFB.
While he said he has the authorities to direct security forces to take action to protect the base against drones, he acknowledged that some situations require coordination with outside organizations like the FAA.
The Defense Department is making an effort to tackle the incursion problem, but it’s difficult to solve, and particularly challenging to differentiate when a drone is flying near a US installation for nefarious purposes like spying, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., told Breaking Defense on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum.
“Some of it is hobbyists who lose control of their drone or decide to do something stupid and fly it over a military base to just take a look and see what’s over there. I mean my mother-in-law gave me one, and what do you do with it? Fly it, take off, It’s got a camera on it … [so] you’re going to go look at something, going to find interesting stuff to look at,” said Kelly, who leads the Senate Armed Services airland committee. “But some of it, I’m pretty sure, is our adversaries. Why wouldn’t they?”
