Hegseth directs Army to stand up interagency task force for counter-UAS
“We’re moving fast, cutting through bureaucracy, consolidating resources and empowering this task force with the utmost authority,” Secretary Hegseth said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll to stand up a task force that will lead the development and rapid fielding of counter-unmanned aerial systems capabilities across the U.S. military.
The Joint Interagency Task Force 401, or JIATF 401, will report directly to the Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg — its director will have acquisition and procurement authority and have access to special hiring authorities to recruit top talent for the task force.
“JIATF 401 is a new unified team that’s going to bring together our best talent from all our agencies to counter these threats and restore control of our skies,” Hegseth said in a video posted on social media platform X.
“We’re moving fast, cutting through bureaucracy, consolidating resources and empowering this task force with the utmost authority to outpace our adversaries,” he added.
The task force’s director may approve up to $50 million in funding per effort for counter-drone initiatives.
Vice Chief of Staff of the Army Gen. James Mingus said in July that the senior leadership has been “trying to advocate this for some time now, and the secretary recently made the decision to allow us to move out on it, because we cannot move fast enough in this space.”
The Army’s joint counter-small unmanned aircraft systems office, or JCO, which has been guiding the Pentagon’s counter-UAS doctrine, requirements, materiel and training efforts since 2020 will be disestablished, according to Hegseth’s new memo. While the JCO did not have the authority to buy equipment for the services, it has expanded its lists of equipment it recommended to the military services since its establishment.
The director of the new task force will serve as the hiring authority for all personnel actions and must immediately hire or detail a technical lead and four people from DoD Science and Technology Reinvention Laboratories. Each service is also required to provide four personnel with counter-UAS expertise, and must update the secretary of Defense within 30 days on the status of those assignments.
The Army and Washington Headquarters Services have one month to secure classified office space in or near the Pentagon so JIATF 401 personnel can begin work immediately.
The task force’s director will have to submit unfunded requirements for fiscal 2026 to the comptroller within 30 days.
The Replicator 2 effort, which focuses on countering small drones at military installations worldwide, will be consolidated under the new task force, which will work with the Defense Innovation Unit to direct funding.
The deputy secretary of defense and the under secretary of defense for research and engineering will move all DoD-wide counter-UAS research, development, test and evaluation efforts under JIATF 401, except for service-specific and U.S. Special Operations Command programs of record.
Within 60 days, the comptroller, along with the cost assessment and program evaluation office, must prepare a plan to shift money from other accounts into JIATF 401. The task force will also pursue multi-year, flexible funding through legislation across research and development, procurement and operations and maintenance efforts.
Mingus said earlier that the Army is asking Congress to support flexible funding lines for UAS, counter-UAS and electronic warfare as part of its fiscal 2026 budget request. “Let’s start with three, and a relatively small amount of money in each one of those, that is basically colorless money,” he said.
Chief Technology Officer Emil Michael will make recommendations to establish a dedicated counter-UAS test and training range within 30 days.
The cost assessment and program evaluation office will ensure that the task force is resourced through the fiscal 2027 program budget review.
Driscoll has 30 days to provide an implementation plan to “include the required resources, structure and authorities to enable JIA TF 401 to execute at speed and scale.”
The Defense Department previously identified drones as “the most significant threat at this time and increasingly in the U. S. homeland.” Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin created a targeted counter-UAS strategy in late 2024.
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