As drone attacks on U.S. interests surge, Pentagon announces new counter-drone strategy
The Pentagon has announced a new counter-drone strategy after a series of incursions near U.S. bases, raising concerns about a lack of a plan of action against the growing drone threat.
While much of the strategy remains classified, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will create a new counter-drone office within the Pentagon — the Joint Counter-Small Drone Office — according to a new memo. and a new warfighter high-level integration team.
The Pentagon will also begin work on a second replication program, but whether to fund that program will be decided by the incoming Trump administration. The first Replicator program focuses on deploying cheap, dispensable drones to deter drone attacks by hostile groups in the Middle East and elsewhere.
The memo warned that the increasing use of unmanned systems must reshape U.S. tactics because they make it easier for adversaries to “surveil, disrupt, and attack our forces … potentially without attribution.”
A drone was launched during a military exercise at an undisclosed location in Iran. (/Handout from Reuters Note Editor – This image was provided by a third party)
Drones shape the pattern of war, and the United States urgently dispatches: “The future is here”
The plan outlines a five-pronged approach: deepening understanding of enemy drones, launching offensive operations to defeat their ability to build such systems, improving “active and passive” defenses against such attacks, rapidly increasing countermeasures UAS production and develop production plans for counter-UAS systems.
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been using small, unidirectional drone systems to attack shipping lanes in the western Red Sea over the last year.
That has led to dangerous waters along trade routes through which about $1 trillion in goods typically pass, delivering aid to the people of war-torn Sudan and Yemen.
Some experts believe the U.S. response will not be enough to prevent the Houthis from causing billions of dollars in damage to the global economy.
Furthermore, the cost to the United States of responding to such attacks is disproportionate. While Houthi drones are estimated to cost about $2,000 each, U.S.-launched naval missiles can cost about $2 million each.
In September, the Houthis destroyed two U.S. Reaper drones within a week, with each machine costing about $30 million.
Russia has also launched deadly drone attacks on both sides of its war in Ukraine.
“Unmanned systems pose an urgent and persistent threat to U.S. personnel, facilities and assets overseas,” the Pentagon said in a statement announcing the strategy on Thursday.
“By developing a single strategy for unmanned systems, the Secretary of State and the Department of Defense are rallying around a shared understanding of this challenge and a common approach to addressing it.”
A UJ-22 airborne (UkrJet) reconnaissance drone purchased within the framework of the “Drone Corps” program prepares to land during a test flight in the Kiev region. (Sergey Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
three American soldier killed Drone attack in Jordan in January. After 17 drones got stuck in restricted airspace over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia last December, experts warned that the United States lacked clear counter-drone procedures.
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The mysterious drones swarmed the area for more than two weeks. Lacking standard protocols for such intrusions, Langley officials don’t know what to do except allow 20-foot-long drones to hover near their classified facilities.
The Houthis shot down a US MQ-9 Reaper drone, pictured here. (Isaac Bracken/Getty Images)
Langley is home to some of America’s most important top-secret facilities and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet.
In October 2023, two months before the Langley incident, five drones flew over the Department of Energy’s National Security Base in Nevada used for nuclear weapons testing. U.S. authorities are also unsure who is behind the drones.
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Chinese surveillance balloons A week across America Last year, the Air Force shot it down off the coast.
The Air Force Factory 42 in California is a highly classified aerospace development base. A large number of unidentified drone intrusions also occurred in 2024, resulting in flight restrictions around the facility.
