UAV Development & Drone Programs North America Defense Industry & Major Contractors Defense Policy & Military Strategy

319th Recon Wing to lead Air Force counter-small-UAS 'battle lab' at Grand Forks AFB

The U.S. Air Force has designated the 319th Reconnaissance Wing at Grand Forks AFB to lead a counter-small-UAS "battle lab" focused on protecting U.S. bases from small-drone threats, coordinating testing, integration and operational tactics for detection-to-mitigation capabilities and vendor assessments.

Discovered 2026-01-29T12:06:32.794302-08:00 | 2026-01-29T12:06:32.794302-08:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

Establishes an operational testbed to accelerate fielding of detection-to-mitigation counter-small-UAS architectures, building on regional deployments of integrated sensor-to-command networks (see the National Capital Region readiness effort: [source:529d63f4-68d1-48a3-8f30-db0a8795ad50]).
Centralizes tactics, testing and vendor evaluation for base protection, which will inform DoD procurement and interoperability choices as services expand C‑UAS coverage at critical sites such as Cape Canaveral [source:4561f02f-e55f-4920-856b-02a2c085de03].
Provides a venue to vet technologies and operational concepts recently demonstrated in allied and service exercises, helping convert demonstrations into deployable capabilities [source:76f02eab-7d7c-49a9-947e-1f277a14c5ad].

Reported By

DVIDS / U.S. DoD news.ssbcrack.com Military Times AirForceTimes DefenseNews.com