Committee Seeks Faster Fielding of Counter‑UAS and Lower‑Cost Munitions

Members told the witnesses that recent conflicts have shown a dramatic proliferation of low‑cost unmanned aerial systems and an urgent need for affordable interceptors and effectors that can be fielded at scale.

"The proliferation of this capability underpins the need to field effective counter UAS technologies," the chair said, noting that using multi‑million‑dollar interceptors against inexpensive drones is not sustainable.

General Oliver and Secretary Driscoll described a multi‑pronged approach: integration with Joint/Interagency Task Force 401, a Defense Autonomous Working Group, and a marketplace pilot where vendors list counter‑drone products for government and state/local purchasers. "We have launched a marketplace that's an Amazon‑like marketplace where counter‑drone technology suppliers can list their products," a senior official said, adding the Army is reviewing items and enabling purchases for state and local partners.

Committee members identified promising small firms and prototypes (transcript references to systems such as the Bullfrog/Bulldog teams) and asked how the Army will scale and test them. Army leaders said such systems are in the pipeline and that layered solutions—combining low‑cost kinetic rounds, directed energy and higher‑end interceptors—are the preferred approach.

Lawmakers signaled support for acquisition reforms that allowed earlier buys during recent operations and asked for follow‑up on testing results, criteria used to scale vendors, and how the Army will ensure state and local partners can use shared situational awareness across jurisdictions.

The hearing yielded no purchase decisions but clarified the architecture of the Army’s approach and committed the service to provide additional details on testing, marketplace usage, and scaling plans.