Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), sounded the alarm on what he said was a lack of sufficient, U.S. base protection against small drones, and SASC Chairman Jack Reed (D-R.I.) noted a significant increase in drone “incursions” of U.S. base perimeters and the danger posed by last-minute detection of such unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
“Year after year, the Biden administration has declined to fund NORTHCOM’s request for the radars and sensors it needs for proper air defense,” Wicker said on March 14 at a SASC posture hearing with the heads of U.S. Northern Command/North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORTHCOM/NORAD) and U.S. Southern Command.
“Numerous bases on American soil remain unable to protect themselves against small drones,” Wicker said. “This presents a clear and significant vulnerability.”
By press time on March 14, Wicker’s office had not identified the “radars and sensors” Wicker referenced in his remarks.
NORTHCOM’s fiscal 2024 unfunded priority does include about $211 million to buy nine Lockheed Martin [LMT] AN/TPY-4 Three-Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radars (3DELRR) that the company says are able to detect drones from hundreds of miles away. The Air Force said in March 2022 that it had picked the AN-TPY-4 to replace the TPS-75 radar by Westinghouse, now Northrop Grumman [NOC] (Defense Daily, March 11, 2022).
The Air Force requested about $20 million in fiscal 2024 for 3DELRR, and the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act provides that amount.
Sen. Richard Budd (R-N.C.) asked Guillot how many drone “incursions” have occurred at the U.S southern border, and Guillot said that his discussions with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have indicated “probably over 1,000” drones per month are crossing into U.S. air space from the southern border and that, though they have not raised security concerns thus far for him, such a potential is growing.
CBP Chief Patrol Agent for the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector Gloria Chavez told the House Oversight and Accountability Committee in February last year that criminals are using surveillance drones to pinpoint the locations of CBP agents in order to ease smuggling of drugs and people. She said that in one year, the RGV sector has seen 10,000 drone crossings and 25,000 detections of drones at the border.
At the March 14 hearing, Reed said that detection of UAS may come only minutes before they penetrate U.S. bases’ air space and asked whether DoD has standard operating procedures for base commanders to deal with such drones.
“Shortly after taking command and beginning my 90-day assessment, I realized that the challenge of the large increase in the number of incursions by UAS was something that was going to drive and probably change the direction of my first year in command,” Air Force Gen. Gregory Guillot, the head of NORTHCOM/NORAD, replied. “The services do have authorities, but work remains to be done to ensure that they are resourced, equipped and that we have standardized operating procedures to address those threats. Also, work remains to be done to be able to use especially non-kinetic capabilities that can bring down those systems safely without interfering with our air space structure.”
“At the present time, NORAD and NORTHCOM do not have a designated role in that, but, in my recommendations at the end of the 90-day assessment, I will point out ways that I think NORAD and NORTHCOM could and should play a role in bringing that standardization,” Guillot testified.
Last month, Guillot became the head of NORAD and NORTHCOM.
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) asked Guillot whether NORTHCOM/NORAD has a “sensor gap.”
Guillot acknowledged that low-altitude, slow targets do present detection difficulties, but he said that NORTHCOM/NORAD had increased radar sensitivity after last year’s Chinese balloon overflights of the U.S. (Defense Daily, Feb. 16, 2023).
“However, there are some gaps that will be manifesting in the near future,” Guillot said. “Those are scheduled to be addressed by the Over-the-Horizon radar and the HBTSS hypersonic/ballistic tracking system. Those capabilities are essential to fill gaps that are growing because of the increased capability of the adversaries.”
The first two prototype Northrop Grumman [NOC] Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) satellites with L3Harris Technologies‘ [LHX] payloads launched last month (Defense Daily, Feb. 14).
King said that “the experience we’ve had and the incredible militarization of the Arctic coast by Russia and the development of drone technology create a significant risk.” He added that, “This is something we need to do in a hurry. We can’t wait five years to develop this capacity.”