Jarrard Warns US Bases Lack Sensors to Stop Drone Swarms as Pentagon Seeks $21 Billion
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 17
Jarrard Warns US Bases Lack Sensors to Stop Drone Swarms as Pentagon Seeks $21 Billion
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 17
Summary
Joseph Jarrard said some U.S. bases have no sensors at all to detect incoming small attack-drone swarms and may also lack the weapons to stop them.
Detection is the main gap, he said, pushing NORTHCOM and NORAD to fold counter-drone tactics into Operation Noble Eagle and link military systems with local law-enforcement and civilian detection networks.
$21 billion is the Pentagon’s latest request for drones, counter-drone weapons and munitions, but Jarrard said today’s base defenses still lag threats seen daily in Ukraine and the Middle East.
High-powered microwaves, radio-frequency jammers and the Army’s emerging E-HEL laser could help, though lasers remain line-of-sight tools that still depend on the sensor and command networks many sites lack.
The warning lands as Trump advances the Golden Dome homeland-defense plan, underscoring that cheap, localized drone attacks remain a more immediate danger to installations than higher-end missile threats.