Gen. Gregory M. Guillot, commander of United States Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, testifies at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee on February 13, 2025. REUTERS
THE WATCH STAFF
The U.S. Department of Defense needs more robust technology and expanded authority to counter numerous incursions by small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) at U.S. military installations, the commander of United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) told lawmakers on February 13. Gen. Gregory M. Guillot revealed more details about the military’s drone challenges at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.
“The primary threat I see for them in the way they’ve been operating is detection and perhaps surveillance of sensitive capabilities on our installations,” he said during the hearing. “There were 350 detections reported last year on military installations, and that was 350 over a total of 100 different installations of all types and levels of security.”
UAS sightings were reported last year at Naval Weapons Station Earle and other New Jersey facilities, Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, among other military installations. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in late January that the drones seen flying over New Jersey were “authorized by the FAA for research and various other reasons.”
At the hearing February 13, Guillot said commanders at sensitive sites like nuclear bases are considered “covered installations”: They have the authority to protect their airspace from UAS incursions. But about half of U.S. military sites do not have that authority, he said. Complicated regulations on UAS countermeasures, covered in Section 130i under Title 10 of U.S. Code, stem from concerns about flight safety and privacy.
“I would propose and advocate for expansion of 130i [authorities] to include all military installations, not just covered installations,” Guillot said during the hearing. “I’d also like to see the range expanded to slightly beyond the installation, so they don’t have to wait for the threat to get over the installation before they can address it, because many of these systems can … surveil the base from outside the perimeter. And under the current authorities, we can’t address that.”
Sen. Tom Cotton said during the hearing that the current situation “sounds crazy. … It doesn’t show a lot of common sense. I mean, base commanders at every base around America … have the authority and they have the capability to protect their perimeters. Say, if some terrorists got a dump truck and drove it through the front gate or were trying to breach the perimeter fence, we would expect base commanders to protect their base with force if necessary.”
Cotton and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand are co-sponsoring legislation to give commanders the authority they need to protect their bases from UAS incursions, “and then hold them accountable for doing so.” Cotton said he hopes the legislation will be approved this year.
In November 2024, Pentagon leaders “directed USNORTHCOM to serve as the synchronizer, integrator, and/or coordinator of domestic counter-small UAS (C-sUAS) activities within the continental United States and Alaska,” Guillot said in written testimony. “This effort will require investment in robust and evolving mitigation technologies … and policy and statutory changes that balance safety, privacy, and defensive requirements.”
In October 2024, USNORTHCOM and NORAD hosted counterdrone technology demonstrations at an event called Falcon Peak at Fort Carson, Colorado. Another event, Falcon Peak 25.2, is planned for summer 2025 at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Fort Carson’s Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in Las Animas County, Colorado. The gathering will provide a venue for vendors to demonstrate the ability of their technology to detect, track, identify and defeat small drones.
In other matters Guillot discussed at the hearing on February 13:
- The U.S. military is increasing its airborne surveillance of Mexican drug cartels to collect intelligence to determine the best way to counter their activities. “We have also increased some uniquely military capabilities that will get after … the cartels, which are driving the illegal migration, and that is primarily through airborne ISR,” Guillot said, referring to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
- Global adversaries of the U.S. — the People’s Republic of China, Iran, North Korea and Russia — are cooperating to challenge the U.S. “While their cooperation does not approach the level of complete integration demonstrated by the United States and Canada, their transfer of weapons, military technology and basing access is a cause for significant concern,” Guillot told the committee. He also said risks to North America have grown as incursions by Russian bomber aircraft into Alaskan and Canadian air defense zones having returned to levels not seen since before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
- Addressing the threat that nonstate actors pose, Guillot said foreign terrorist groups have rejuvenated their attack planning against the United States and are inspiring attacks, such as the New Year’s Day 2025 attack in New Orleans. “USNORTHCOM assesses the threat of a foreign terrorist attack in North America is at the highest level in at least five years,” he said in written testimony.