US Central Command counter-drone systems
The gist
The Pentagon says it delivered more than 25,000 unmanned and counter-drone systems to CENTCOM this year for about $782 million.
The push favors cheap, mass-produced systems over costly munitions, though no performance data was released.
How it unfolded
- Sep 7, 2025A fourth-iteration counter-drone exercise with more than 300 personnel fielding 20 anti-drone systems began at the Shamal-2 Range in northeastern Saudi Arabia, per CENTCOM.
- Sep 16, 2025Adm. Brad Cooper, head of CENTCOM, and Gen. Fayyadh bin Hamed Raqed Al-Ruwaili, chief of the general staff of the Saudi armed forces, watched a live-fire counter-drone exercise at the Red Sands Integrated Experimentation Center in Saudi Arabia.
- Sep 23, 2025CENTCOM announced it was setting up a new team and innovation hub to fast-track adoption of drones and other combat capabilities.
Key terms
- CENTCOM
- One of the US Department of Defense's unified combatant commands, responsible for military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia.
- counter-UAS
- Incidents in which unmanned aircraft without a pilot on board enter an area, often controlled remotely or autonomously.
- attritable
- Describes low-cost military equipment designed to be affordable enough to be lost or expended in combat.
Source: Wikipedia