U.S. military initiates new anti‑drone system targeting military‑grade UAVs

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) of the Pentagon is working on a prototype of a system to counter military grade unmanned aerial systems (UAS).

In a press release on 29 September, the DIU said the system will be designed to defeat group 3 and above adversarial threats, ensure the sovereignty of the U.S. national airspace, protect personnel, equipment, and facilities at home and abroad.

Known as the Counter NEXT program, the project will be executed in partnership with Anduril Industries and Zone 5 Technologies.

Empowering personnel 

The Counter NEXT program seeks to empower personnel and their operations, and will be focusing on some key areas.

These include providing a deeper interceptor magazine for forces while preserving exquisite interceptors for exquisite threats, in addition to simplifying and accelerating the reloading process.

The project will also address the cost asymmetry of the current threats and interceptors in use, as well as integrate with the existing combat systems. 

Joshua Zike, Counter NEXT Program Manager for DIU commenting said:

“The Counter NEXT project is focused on leveraging the best-in-breed commercially derived technology and processes to accelerate the development, production, and fielding of these vital Counter UAS interceptors to our warfighters. While this solution is focused on a specific, pressing subset of the counter UxS problem set, variants for all domains should be developed and deployed to provide this vital layered kinetic counter UxS defeat capability to all our warfighters.” 

The prototypes will utilize a modular open systems architecture and are designed for mass production using modern manufacturing techniques. 

This is to enable future design improvements and rapid integration of subsystems and components as they improve

Also, all components of the solution will go through some of the most stringent military standards in order to provide a lasting capability to the warfighter wherever the solution is deployed.

Both Anduril and Zone 5 have received additional funding to further refine their rapid prototypes, integrate their systems with the mission partner’s combat systems, and conduct the safety testing required ahead of the live fire test scheduled to take place in 2026.