The United States military is developing rapid-response teams to counter drone incursions in the homeland within 24 hours.
U.S. Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, Commander of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), made the announcement during Falcon Peak, a September 2025 exercise that evaluated Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-sUAS). USNORTHCOM demonstrated a “fly-away kit” for rapid-response teams during the C-sUAS experiment conducted at Eglin Air Force Base’s test complex in Florida. The kit has a “suite of sensors, effectors [countermeasures] and software optimized for expeditionary employment and the homeland defense mission,” according to manufacturer Anduril. One of its key countermeasures is the Anvil seek-and-destroy drone.
The development of effective counter-drone technology is a priority for the U.S. in meeting evolving threats to the homeland. The capability is crucial to safeguarding military installations that are the foundation of U.S. strategic deterrence as well as protecting civilian infrastructure.
USNORTHCOM hosted the first Falcon Peak in October 2024 at Fort Carson in Colorado. In November 2024, the Department of War (DOW) tapped USNORTHCOM to serve as the “synchronizer, integrator and/or coordinator” of C-sUAS activities within the continental U.S. and Alaska, Gen. Guillot told a U.S. Senate panel in February 2025. Gen. Guillot, at Falcon Peak, said that USNORTHCOM previously only could advise installation commanders on how to repel incursions, according to the military news website The War Zone (TWZ). “Now we’ll have equipment that we can respond to [incursions],” Gen. Guillot said.
During the Falcon Peak demonstrations, the fly-away kit’s mobile sentry detected and tracked an aggressor UAS, then launched Anvil to intercept it. Anvil knocked it out of the sky. The kits are designed to defeat Group 1 to Group 3 drones, according to Anduril. The DOW categorizes UAS into five groups using factors such as maximum takeoff weight, operating altitude and speed. The DOW categorizes UAS into five groups using factors such as maximum takeoff weight, operating altitude and speed. Category 1 drones, for example, are small drones that can’t exceed slightly more than 9 kilograms (kg) in weight, cannot fly above 366 meters altitude or exceed speeds of more than 185 kilometers per hour (kph), according to a 2024 Congressional Research Service report. Category 2 drones can’t weigh more than 25kg, cannot fly above 1,067 meters or exceed speeds of more than 463 kph. Category 3 drones must weigh less than 600kg, cannot fly above 5,486 meters or exceed speeds of more than 463 kph.
USNORTHCOM plans to deploy the kits and trained personnel as needed to military sites that lack sufficient counter-drone capabilities, according to an April 2025 Air & Space Forces Magazine report. “This is the first quick reaction force for drone response that we’ve had in the homeland,” USNORTHCOM Deputy Test Director Jason Mayes told TWZ.
Initially, one rapid-response team will be based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado, Gen. Guillot said. The location was chosen in part because the U.S. Air Force’s 302nd Airlift Wing has C-130 cargo planes there that can deploy the kits. Eventually, plans call for teams on both U.S. coasts and in Alaska, TWZ reported.
More than a dozen DOW and industry partners participated in Falcon Peak to “assess new and emerging C-sUAS technologies and advocate for the best resources to defeat those threats,” according to the Eglin AFB news release. Gen. Guillot said other systems and manufacturers eventually will be considered for the fly-away kits. He said “plug-and-play” capability is a priority to help with training and fielding of the kits.
“I certainly don’t want to be aligned to any one vendor,” Gen. Guillot told TWZ. “I think this is a rapidly growing community.”