ACC Battle Lab Seeks Counter-Drone Weapons
By Matthew Cox
The Air Force Point Defense Battle Lab is searching for more defense firms to demonstrate counter-drone capabilities at upcoming exercises designed to test base defenses against unmanned aerial attack.
For the second time this year, the Air Force is seeking input. The earlier requests for information (RFI) came out of the 319th Reconnaissance Wing at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., in March. The wing is Air Combat Command’s designated Point Defense Battle Lab, tasked with developing the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) Airmen will need to protect domestic Air Force and Space Force installations.
The battle lab has held about a half dozen exercises this year, with two unidentified companies demonstrating counter-drone systems that detect, identify, track, and destroy unmanned aerial threats. One of the firms provided its counter-small unmanned aerial systems, or C-sUAS, technologies for four of the exercises. The Air Force Research Lab and Air Force Life Cycle Management Center have also each sent a system for evaluation, Senior Master Sgt. BreeAnn Sachs, a spokesperson for the 319th, told Air & Space Forces Magazine.
The battle lab reposted its two RFIs on Sam.gov recently, seeking additional participants for upcoming exercises in August and December, Sachs said.
One RFI seeks systems to detect, identify, and track drones. The other RFI focuses on kinetic counter-drone weapons, ranging from rockets to drone-on-drone interceptors, high-energy lasers, and high-powered microwave systems.
Exercises to date featured Airmen operating as “Red-Air” attackers, piloting small Group 1 and 2 drones on a test range against competing C-sUAS systems.
“The team is gaining a lot of really valuable data,” said Sachs. “They have a whole data analysis team that’s developing the tactics, techniques, and procedures—like what do Airmen do if they see a drone, what does that process look like?
The resulting TTPs will be compiled into a report that includes evaluations of how commercial technology performed during the exercises, Sachs said. The report is to be presented to ACC Commander Gen. Adrian L. Spain by the end of the calendar year.
Security forces specialists are the likeliest to operate counter-drone systems at Air Force and Space Force installations in the U.S. But Air Force leaders announced recently that a new enlisted job specialty for air base air defense is needed. Also, new “Point Defense Flights” at specific Air Force installations are being stood up to train for air defense responsibilities. These latest moves come as the U.S. military races to cope with the proliferation of low-cost quadcopter and jet-powered drones like Iran’s Shahed that have increased the threat of attacks on air bases and other military installations.
Both of the RFIs are looking for rapidly deployable systems that can be set up by small teams of up to four Airmen within two hours to counter Groups 1-3 drone. Each system should be capable of operating in extreme temperatures and in winds up to 30 miles per hour.
Vendors have until July 31 to respond to either solicitation, and Sachs said additional opportunities will likely follow for companies whose solutions don’t match current criteria. Innovations are welcome, he said.
“We have a dozen different forms for different kinds of technology that vendors can fill out,” Sachs said. “If a vendor doesn’t perfectly fit either one of those, we do have a way for them to apply. And then if we have an exercise come up that’s more specialized than those two RFIs, we have their information.”
USAF Explores New Job Specialty for Counter-Air Defense
By Matthew Cox
The Air Force is developing a new enlisted job specialty to defend bases against missile and drone attacks. Alarming damage to air bases across the Middle East during Operation Epic Fury focused leaders’ attention on the requirement.
Air Force leaders convened for the semiannual “Corona” meeting at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in June were briefed on “the evolving threat” and the need for a “dedicated new Air Force Specialty Code” to ensure personnel are trained and equipped to defend bases from aerial attack, according to a June 26 release.
Air Force leaders will also establish new “Point Defense Flights” at “select Air Force installations” to train for air defense responsibilities, the release said. The units will draw from multiple career fields.
The increasing availability of low-cost quadcopter and jet-powered drones like Iran’s Shahed have increased the threat of attacks on air bases and other military installations, not only those forward based but those closer to home, as well. The Air Force came under congressional scrutiny after unidentified drones hovered unchecked over Langley Air Force Base, Va., in December 2023, and more drone incursions followed at bases in Ohio, Utah, and the United Kingdom.
Ukraine’s 2025 “Operation Spiderweb” impressed, but also concerned U.S. commanders, who watched with surprise as video surfaced of remotely piloted drones crashing into and disabling Russian bombers parked on base runways. Pentagon officials launched a review of U.S. military base defense systems and former commanders called for developing robust new defenses for a critical mission too long ignored.
New Pentagon initiatives, such as the Replicator 2 counter-drone initiative and the Joint Interagency Task Force 401, established to quickly develop counter-drone technologies for all the military services, are part of the solution. But new systems and weapons require new specialists to operate them and doctrine and standards for employing them. Today, responsibility for protecting bases is left to local commanders to figure out for themselves.
The Air Force’s Point Defense Battle Lab stood up last October to develop tactics, techniques, and procedures for Airmen defending domestic bases with commercial counter-drone technologies. Domestic bases and others in built-up civilian areas overseas are more limited in how they can react due to concerns about collateral damage to those living just beyond base boundaries.
In other overseas areas, such as air bases spread across the Middle East, most bases are in remote locations, though some, such as the Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, border on built-up urban complexes.
Iranian forces’ numerous drone and missile attacks during Operation Epic Fury killed an American Soldier at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia, and destroyed an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control aircraft, one of several aircraft damaged on the ground during the war. U.S. Central Command’s forward Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base, in Qatar, was severely damaged, Air & Space Forces Magazine has reported, and the Wall Street Journal reported severe damage to the Navy’s 5th Fleet Headquarters in Bahrain.
Air base defense in the Pacific, where bases in Japan are well within reach of China’s long-range weapons, continues to vex Air Force planners. The military’s primary missile interceptor systems, such as Patriot, belong to the Army, and while the Army ostensibly is responsible for protecting Air Force bases from attack, there aren’t enough systems to go around. The Air Force’s fiscal 2027 budget request seeks about $1.4 billion for a missile defense variant of the Air Base Air Defense Systems (ABADS), but it will take time for such a system to become operational.
“Nuclear deterrence and cyber are some of the biggest threats that we face, but defending our air bases, not only overseas but in the homeland, has become an increasingly high priority,” said Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink, in May 20 congressional testimony. “I think we agree 100 percent that Airmen and Guardians have a responsibility to defend our air bases and defend our forces, regardless of where they are. We are focusing on electronic warfare to directed energy to kinetic capabilities to defend our Airmen and Guardians.”
How soon the Air Force will roll out the new air base defense specialty code is unclear. Creating a new AFSC requires a training curriculum and career field management plan, and will take time to develop. Requests for more information were not answered in time for this article. Some Security Forces personnel at high-security installations, such as nuclear bases and airfields, already train to counter drone threats. It is not clear how the new role will fit into Security Forces operations.