Joint Interagency Task Force 401 is continuing to expand its counter-UAS training efforts as small unmanned aircraft systems become an increasingly persistent concern for U.S. installations at home and overseas.
The task force, which has become central to the Pentagon’s domestic counter-drone posture, is reinforcing its training pipeline through the Joint Counter-Small Unmanned Aircraft System University at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The university develops and validates counter-UAS curriculum and deploys mobile training teams to operational units.
“Unmanned systems are a defining threat of our time,” said Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, task force director. “Drones are prolific, inexpensive, evolving quickly and increasingly accessible to nonstate actors and individuals.”
Rather than concentrating expertise solely within centralized courses, the university is placing greater emphasis on a train-the-trainer approach. Students receive advanced instruction and return to their units to build local counter-UAS capability, while the university continues to run its planner’s course focused on installation and defense critical infrastructure protection.
The approach is designed to sustain training capacity as drone threats evolve and proliferate.
That model was recently applied in Guam, where JCU instructors deployed to provide hands-on counter-UAS training to Task Force Talon and Guam National Guard Security Forces. The effort focused on integrating detection and mitigation procedures into routine base defense operations.
“Our mission is to ensure every warfighter has the skills to defend their post, wherever that may be,” Ross said. “We must recognize that the homeland extends beyond the continental United States; defending Guam is defending the homeland.”
The Guam deployment demonstrates how JIATF-401’s mission extends beyond the continental United States, particularly as installations in the Indo-Pacific remain central to U.S. force posture.
Ross also highlighted the limits of a hardware-centric approach:
“Hardware alone is not sufficient. We need to train service members and work in concert with interagency partners and local law enforcement to ensure that we’re all pulling together to accomplish the same mission.”
Building full counter-drone capability, he noted, also requires clearly defined authorities, rules of engagement, sustainment plans and integration into daily operations.
Army Lt. Col. John Peterson, director of the Joint Counter-Small UAS University, said curriculum updates are being informed by operational experience and emerging threat trends.
“Whether it’s in a classroom at Fort Sill or on an airfield in Guam, our job is to support JIATF-401’s priorities,” Peterson said. “We are improving joint force training to ensure our service members have the skills they need to defend every inch of the homeland.”
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Post Image Credit: U.S. Department of War
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