Senator presses officials on domestic drone incursions; leaders cite low current impact, call for base defenses

During a hearing of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, a senator asked senior Defense Department officials about recent drone incursions over installations in the United States and what authorities and resources are needed to protect infrastructure and personnel.

“The impact to operations to this point has been minimal,” the Secretary said, adding he was concerned about the potential for operators to become more aggressive. A senior Air Force official told the committee that drone activity is yielding intelligence to those who fly over facilities and warned that a drone collision with an aircraft “is going to significantly damage it” and “could cause it to crash.”

The official pointed to recent foreign drone attacks as a reason for concern and said, “it’s very cheap to fly a drone and attack a very expensive platform.” He said the department is requesting additional funds in its budget to deploy defensive systems broadly and described an intention to “get every single base covered with a defensive system that can detect and defeat any drone that would come to our base.” He also stated that the department currently has authorities to pursue such defenses.

Committee members pressed for clarity about how drone incursions have affected missions; officials characterized impacts so far as limited to intelligence collection and near-miss risks rather than sustained mission disruption. Officials emphasized the scale and low cost of commercial drones when arguing for investment in defensive systems to protect aircraft, personnel and infrastructure.

The hearing record does not include a formal vote or a specific funding figure; officials described the request as a budgetary priority. The committee did not take formal action during the exchange.