After a tabletop exercise and a summit at Fort Bragg, the US Army is building a practical “playbook” for countering small drone attacks on critical defense infrastructure—drawing lessons from Ukraine’s June 2025 Operation Spiderweb, including the need for laye
For the third time in a war game, the question stayed the same: what happens if an enemy tries to cripple US forces before fighting begins—through cyber disruption and drone strikes aimed at American bases.
That scenario was at the center of a US Army assessment during a tabletop exercise. where leaders looked to Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb for hard-earned lessons on what drones can do to real infrastructure. The US Army then took those lessons into a real planning room. bringing together federal and local partners for its first summit on defending critical defense infrastructure at Fort Bragg. North Carolina. last month.
The threats on the table were broad and intentionally unforgiving: attacks that could disrupt Army data and communications, shut down electricity and other essential utilities, and degrade the Army’s ability to quickly gather forces in preparation for conflict.
Brandon Pugh, the Army’s principal cyber advisor, said the central challenge is turning “best practices and lessons learned” into “a playbook” that “a local garrison commander,” who “is not a cyber or physical protection expert,” can use at “their garrison and their camps, posts and stations.”
The summit also put a spotlight on counter-drone defense as a specific problem. The counter-drone element was directly inspired by Ukraine’s June 2025 Operation Spiderweb. in which Kyiv “sneak[ed] over 100 drones into Russian territory” and launched them at nearby air bases. Those drones struck dozens of grounded aircraft and destroyed others.
US officials said a similar threat to a US base or installation would need to be defended by a layer of counter-drone systems—drawing on both kinetic and non-kinetic options designed to address particular threats.
One kinetic counter-drone system discussed was the Bumblebee, made by Perennial Autonomy. Bumblebee is described as a low-cost attritable platform that uses artificial intelligence to physically intercept and destroy hostile small UAS. The Joint Interagency Task Force-401 (JIATF-401) awarded Perennial Autonomy a $5.2 million contract for Bumblebee systems earlier this year.
But officials also emphasized that kinetic firepower alone is not enough. Non-kinetic options, such as electronic jamming, and passive defenses, including netting or hardening, are also needed.
JIATF-401 is an Army-led task force that includes the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. It works across the government to detect. track. and stop drone activity in and around military installations. as well as the broader US. The task force replaced DoD’s previous counter-drone task force. It recently tested a non-kinetic platform for detecting, tracking, and non-kinetically destroying drones at the US southern border.
During the training summit. teams examined how current counter-drone capabilities could best be used to defeat an attack like Ukraine’s Operation Spiderweb. While the environments, infrastructure, and threats differed, officials said the experience still produced data that could improve counter-UAS tactics.
Lt. Col. Adam Scher. spokesperson for the US Army-led Joint Interagency Task Force-401. said “Effective C-sUAS [counter-small uncrewed aerial systems] requires a tailored approach. employing capabilities that match the likely threat and take into account what needs to be protected.” He added that one key takeaway was the need for a common user interface that streamlines how counter-drone systems are used—reducing the time it takes soldiers to identify drones and decide which systems are best for neutralizing them.
That urgency fits with what US Army officials are seeing beyond Spiderweb. They say counter-drone defenses in Ukraine can become outdated within months as Russian tactics and technology evolve. For JIATF-401, the takeaway is about keeping defenses cheap, scalable, and adaptable enough to keep pace with a fast-changing threat.
In a conflict where a base can be targeted before the first shots are fired. the US Army’s focus is narrowing to a difficult goal: make protection practical. not theoretical—so commanders in day-to-day roles can respond quickly. using layered tools. when a sudden drone swarm turns into a real-world test.
US Army counter-drone JIATF-401 Bumblebee Perennial Autonomy Operation Spiderweb Fort Bragg critical defense infrastructure C-sUAS electronic jamming kinetic and non-kinetic defense