Pentagon to build new task force to counter drone threats

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(The Center Square) – The Pentagon is creating a new task force to counter drone threats and keep U.S. airspace safe. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Department of Defense wants to address the growing threat and to improve its systems to protect people and equipment at home and overseas.

"We're moving fast – cutting through bureaucracy, consolidating resources, and empowering this task force with the utmost authority to outpace our adversaries," Hegseth said. "We will innovate, we will lead and we will win."

Hegseth directed Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll to establish the Joint Interagency Task Force 401. The task force will gather top talent from across agencies, according to a memo. 

The Pentagon said drones, which it calls unmanned aircraft systems or UAS, pose a particularly dangerous threat. 

"The Department has maintained pace with its adversaries in conventional warfighting capabilities," Hegseth wrote in the memo to top Pentagon officials. "However, the small UAS threat continues to grow exponentially and is becoming increasingly sophisticated."

The new joint task force will replace a previous one, but allow for more agencies to join in on the work. 

"DoD needs a single focal point to centralize, coordinate, and lead these efforts," Hegseth said.

The defense secretary said he wants the task force to focus on "speed over process."

The Pentagon has been developing counter-drone systems for years. It refers to them as Counter-Small Unmanned Aerial Systems or C-sUAS. These systems are designed to detect, track, identify, and defeat or disable drones. 

"My priorities for transformation and acquisition reform include improving C-sUAS mobility and affordability and integrating capabilities into warfighter formations," Hegseth wrote.

The memo gives the task force director the authority to approve up to $50 million in funding per initiative.