# Counter-UAS > Systems and doctrine for detecting and defeating hostile drones; conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East transformed counter-UAS into a US$29B global procurement priority. **Meta:** type: reference · date: 2026-07-03 · heads: · 4 takes · 2 lenses · 2 regions ## What it is Counter-UAS (C-UAS), also called counter-drone, encompasses the systems, doctrine, and authorities used to detect, track, identify, and defeat hostile unmanned aircraft systems. The engagement chain has four layers: detect (radar, radio-frequency scanning, acoustic sensors, and electro-optical/infrared cameras), track (fusing sensor feeds into a common operating picture), identify (distinguishing threat from benign traffic), and defeat (kinetic or non-kinetic neutralization). Defeat technologies span electronic warfare jammers that sever drone-to-operator links, reusable kinetic interceptors (dedicated counter-drone UAVs or missiles), high-power microwave emitters that fry onboard electronics, and directed-energy lasers. No single method defeats every threat: a fiber-optic drone immune to radio-frequency jamming requires a different answer than a GPS-guided loitering munition. The result is a doctrine of layered defense, with cost-per-kill as the central unsolved problem. Defeating a US$400 adversary drone with a US$1M-plus interceptor does not scale when swarms number in the hundreds per night. ## History The threat was treated as marginal through the early 2010s. Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria (2016 to 2017) pioneered tactical use of commercial off-the-shelf quadcopters for reconnaissance and grenade drops, forcing improvised US and coalition responses. The September 2019 drone-and-cruise-missile strike on Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq and Khurais facilities in Saudi Arabia, attributed to Iran and claimed by Houthi forces in Yemen, showed mass low-cost systems could cripple critical energy infrastructure and bypass existing point air defenses. Azerbaijan's 44-day war over Nagorno-Karabakh in autumn 2020 demonstrated that Turkish TB2 drones could annihilate Armenian armor at scale, accelerating NATO doctrine reviews. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 industrialized the drone war. Both sides deploy hundreds of first-person-view (FPV) strike drones per day; Ukraine's long-range Shahed-variant drones struck central Moscow in 2023. Houthi drone-and-missile campaigns against Red Sea commercial shipping from late 2023 into 2025 added a maritime and economic disruption dimension. The US DoD published its Counter-Small UAS Strategy in January 2021, then an updated Strategy for Countering Unmanned Systems in December 2024, acknowledging the threat had outpaced existing doctrine and authority structures. ## Current state As of mid-2026, the US DoD has elevated C-UAS to a top-tier institutional priority. In August 2025, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth formally established Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401) under US Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll as a single focal point, consolidating what had been a fragmented set of offices. The US Army's [near-US$1B small C-UAS plan](/zh/n/army-counter-uas-billion-2027) channels near-term money into reusable kinetic interceptors and electronic warfare, with directed-energy lasers deferred to roughly 2030. In March 2026, the [US Army awarded Anduril a US$20B, 10-year enterprise vehicle](/zh/n/anduril-army-20bn-counter-drone), with the first task order (US$87M) selecting Anduril's Lattice AI platform as JIATF-401's tactical command-and-control. Globally, publicly announced government C-UAS contracts reached US$29B in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Poland signed a US$4.2B SAN-CUAS contract with a Kongsberg/PGZ consortium in January 2026. Ukraine received a US$2B air-defense allocation through NATO's Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List. More than 70 manufacturers produce interceptor drones, and the industry's binding constraint has shifted from technical feasibility to logistical production capacity. ## Relationships C-UAS sits at the intersection of electronic warfare, AI-enabled battle management, advanced radar, and high-rate manufacturing. In the United States, Anduril (Lattice C2, Roadrunner interceptor, Ghost/Anvil) and RTX (Coyote reusable interceptor, Ku-band RF system) are the dominant contractors; Epirus (Leonidas high-power microwave) and L3Harris compete in directed energy. Israel's multi-decade experience integrating Iron Dome with drone-swarm defense feeds directly into NATO doctrine. Houthi operations in Yemen provided US Navy data on maritime C-UAS requirements. Russia's Shahed-136 barrage campaigns against Ukraine drove German and Polish C-UAS investment and shaped the NATO Alliance C-UAS Action Plan adopted in 2024. ## What to watch Whether FY2027 US Congress appropriations sustain the near-US$1B C-UAS line through markup, or defence-budget pressure forces cuts. The pace at which the US Army's Enduring High Energy Laser (E-HEL, US$66M line) reaches field deployment versus the "2030" caveat analysts attach to laser counter-drone at scale. Whether JIATF-401 can consolidate the US$20B Anduril vehicle with broader inter-service C-UAS requirements into coherent cost-per-kill economics. And whether Poland's SAN-CUAS contract becomes a NATO template for allied layered-defense procurement. ## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens) ### official record - **US DoD Strategy for Countering Unmanned Systems (Fact Sheet)** (United States, en) — December 2024 fact sheet releasing the US DoD updated strategy for countering unmanned systems, setting three lines of effort: force readiness, force defense, and partner engagement, and mandating doctrine and authority reforms. Source: https://media.defense.gov/2024/Dec/05/2003599149/-1/-1/0/FACT-SHEET-STRATEGY-FOR-COUNTERING-UNMANNED-SYSTEMS.PDF - **US DoD Establishment of Joint Interagency Task Force 401** (United States, en) — August 2025 Secretary of Defense memorandum formally establishing JIATF-401 under US Army Secretary Driscoll as the single US DoD focal point to centralize and coordinate all C-UAS efforts. Source: https://media.defense.gov/2025/Aug/28/2003790021/-1/-1/0/ESTABLISHMENT-OF-JOINT-INTERAGENCY-TASK-FORCE-401.PDF - **Congressional Research Service: DoD Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems (R48477)** (United States, en) — March 2025 CRS report reviewing US DoD C-UAS policies, programmes, organization, and legislation, including FY2025 NDAA Section 925 provisions directing the secretary of defense to form a C-UAS Task Force and disseminate updated directives. Source: https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48477 ### industry analysis - **Unmanned Airspace: Global C-UAS Government Spending Q1 2026** (Global, en) — Tracks US$29B in publicly announced government C-UAS contracts in Q1 2026, led by the US Anduril contract and Poland's SAN-CUAS deal; notes 70-plus interceptor manufacturers globally and identifies logistics supply as the binding constraint. Source: https://www.unmannedairspace.info/counter-uas-systems-and-policies/global-government-spending-on-c-uas-reaches-usd29-billion-in-first-months-of-2026/ ## Across the graph - Related: [[anduril-army-20bn-counter-drone]], [[army-counter-uas-billion-2027]] - Entities: Counter Uas, Anduril, US Army, Corporate:rtx, Electronic Warfare, US Department of Defense --- Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/zh/n/counter-uas-dossier