United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) hosted the second annual demonstration of counter small, unmanned surveillance systems (c-sUAS), known as Falcon Peak, and demonstrated the substantial progress made by defense contractors in meeting the challenge of defending the U.S. from hostile UAS activity. Counterdrone technology shot down U.S. Special Forces-provided target drones that mimicked the latest in battlefield innovation. The September 2025 event was at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
In one media demonstration, crews launched a “hostile” drone from Santa Rosa Island before an interceptor drone captured it with a net fired from a shotgun. Twenty anti-drone systems were tested in the days leading up to the event. Falcon Peak lets companies test their anti-drone systems in a realistic environment, Fox News reported.
Rapid innovation in drone warfare since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 has challenged U.S. defense planners to adapt to almost daily changes in small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS). Last year, the Department of Defense estimated at least 350 drone incursions at more than 100 U.S. military bases. “There’s no one solid answer from a system standpoint that’s able to handle the spectrum of threats that are out there,” Jason Mayes, a counterdrone division operations planner for USNORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), told the Washington Examiner newspaper. “Just the threat picture as a whole, we’re starting to see the technology evolve at a very rapid pace.”
The multiday event in Florida, like last year’s event in Colorado, was designed to solicit best practices from contractors to defend against hostile drone activity. Gen. Gregory Guillot, commander of USNORTHCOM and NORAD, told Fox he’s “confident the military could stop a surprise drone attack. However, he hopes more anti-drone technology could protect military sites in a sustained attack.” Fox reported that Guillot’s goal is to ready counterdrone response teams on the East Coast, West Coast and Alaska to respond to any drone activity within 24 hours.
USNORTHCOM expects the number of drone incursions over national security facilities to increase as hobbyist drones become more common. About 1 million drones are registered with the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA expects that number to rise to about 2.7 million by 2027, Fox reported.
Vendors at Falcon Peak included Squarehead Technology, which has developed an acoustic system that pinpoints drones by sound. “You see a lot of drones flying near the ground, in the ground clutter, making it difficult for radars to pick up on them. Acoustics doesn’t have that issue,” Knut Moe, Squarehead Technology vice president of defense, told Fox.
Troops don’t always have to shoot down a drone. Fortem Technologies uses a net — like in the media demonstration — to neutralize a hostile UAS. “[The drone] goes out and grabs it with a net and takes it down safely and puts it wherever you need to,” said Jon Gruen, Fortem Technologies chief executive, according to Fox.