Joint Interagency Task Force 401 has committed more than $600 million to counter-unmanned aircraft systems capability across three distinct mission sets, accelerating procurement at a pace the task force says compresses timelines that traditionally stretch across years into months.
The commitment spans active combat support, homeland event security, and critical infrastructure defense. It represents the largest single funding milestone for JIATF-401 since the Army-led task force was established in August 2025 to consolidate counter-UAS authorities and replace the Joint Counter-small UAS Office.
The largest share — $350 million — flowed to urgent operational requirements during the first month of combat operations under Operation Epic Fury, the U.S. and Israeli military campaign targeting Iran’s missile infrastructure, naval forces, and nuclear program that began February 28. Funding supported requirements from U.S. Central Command, Air Combat Command, Air Force Global Strike Command, and U.S. Army Transportation Command.
“This decisive action demonstrates JIATF-401’s ability to rapidly translate operational needs into fielded capability, while also remaining firmly focused on homeland defense,” said Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, director of the task force.
A separate $100 million commitment addresses counter-UAS requirements for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where matches across 11 cities in nine states have prompted DoD to deploy mobile sensing and non-kinetic mitigation systems designed for dense civilian environments. Army National Guard units will operate the systems in coordination with interagency law enforcement partners. Critically, the systems will not be demobilized after the tournament ends: DoD has stated that equipment will roll into installation and critical infrastructure defense plans, giving base commanders mobile assets that can be repositioned against drone threats on an ongoing basis.
The third tranche — $158 million under the department’s Domestic Shield initiative — is directed at the nation’s highest-priority defense critical infrastructure, with requirements validated through an expedited site survey process in which the services provided direct input to JIATF-401.
“The speed and scale of these commitments reflect extraordinary coordination across the Department of Defense and interagency partners,” said Michelle Self, deputy of the rapid acquisition division for the task force. “Efforts that traditionally take years have been executed in months.”
The announcement did not identify specific vendors, but JIATF-401 has been building out its procurement infrastructure in parallel. The task force’s Counter-UAS Marketplace, hosted on the Common Hardware Systems electronic catalog and built on an existing indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract vehicle, reached initial operational capability in February, giving authorized users a vetted catalog of sensors, effectors, and command-and-control systems that can be ordered without initiating new contract actions. AeroVironment and Smart Shooter have both received marketplace orders, with the latter’s SMASH 2000LE fire control system representing the Israeli company’s first JIATF-401 contract. Fortem Technology’s DroneHunter F700 was the first system procured under the Replicator 2 initiative, which focuses specifically on countering small UAS threats to military installations and critical infrastructure.
Which vendors are supplying the mobile non-kinetic systems for the World Cup — and which will serve the Domestic Shield critical infrastructure sites — has not been publicly disclosed. Those contracts will be worth watching as the tournament approaches this summer.
