Pentagon Memo Orders Faster Approvals for Counter-Drone Systems

The Pentagon has told its offices to approve counter-drone systems faster. Secretary Pete Hegseth's five-page memorandum is dated September 28, 2026. The department released it on October 2, using the name Department of War. The memo tells approval offices to treat delay as a risk. Any denial of a request to use a counter-drone system must be written down, signed and sent to a central task force.

The memo covers the approvals needed to buy and field these systems. It does not change the rules on when troops may use them.

Counter-drone systems are tools that detect, track and stop hostile or unauthorized drones. Official documents call them counter-unmanned aircraft systems, or C-UAS. The site's Defense Tech Programs Tracker logs the memo alongside other counter-drone milestones.

What does the memo order?

The memo sets out five principles that apply immediately:

• Delay counts as a risk. Commanders must be able to weigh the risk of using a system against the risk of waiting. A denial must state its reason and go to Joint Interagency Task Force 401, known as JIATF-401.
• Earlier approvals carry over. One service, command or agency may already have approved a system component, a use case or a test result. Others facing the same threat must then use that paperwork to move faster.
• Hardware is not enough. Buying or delivering a system is not success unless the operator can use it lawfully and safely.
• Interim approval is an option. Testing may show low or manageable risk. Offices are then to use conditional or time-limited approvals, as appropriate, while longer paperwork is finished.
• Every barrier has an owner. Each approval barrier gets a named owner, a timeline and an escalation path.

If an approval office does not act within 30 days, the requester is to notify the secretary's front office.

Which four bottlenecks does it target?

The memo names four kinds of approval that hold up fielding.

• Network approvals. These are called authority to operate and authority to connect, or ATO and ATC. The NIST glossary describes an ATO as an official decision to let an information system run and accept its risks. The department's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer has 30 days to set up one department-wide process. The memo says steps that take months must take days or weeks for tested systems.
• Radio spectrum. The chief information officer has 30 days to review how components request spectrum for counter-drone systems from interdepartmental authorities and recommend ways to speed it up. The department will also back Project Spectrum Strike. The release calls it automated Defense Innovation Unit software to coordinate and authorize government spectrum use.
• Weapons safety. No service may repeat a safety review for the same system, configuration and use unless a material change creates a new risk. JIATF-401 becomes the central coordinator for these reviews. It will also keep a store of technical data and hazard assessments.
• Legal reviews. Reviews of counter-drone weapons needed for operations must be done as soon as possible. Others should be finished within 10 days of receiving the needed information. Finished reviews are to be shared across the department.

What does the memo leave unchanged?

The memo says it does not affect the existing rules for operational use of counter-drone systems, including inside the United States. At home, that use falls under a federal law, 10 U.S.C. 130i. The law lets the Secretary of Defense authorize action against drones that threaten certain facilities and assets. The listed actions run from detecting and tracking a drone to using reasonable force to disable or destroy it. The law says this authority ends on December 31, 2030.

The memo also says it does not direct anyone to break the law or compromise safety.

A policy memo Hegseth signed on December 8, 2025 covers the use side. It lets commanders extend defensive actions beyond an installation's fence line, according to a Pentagon fact sheet.

The new memo lists other earlier steps too. On April 10, 2026, the FAA said it and the department had completed a safety assessment of a high-energy laser counter-drone system. The FAA said such systems do not pose undue risk to passenger aircraft.

Why is the Pentagon doing this now?

Hegseth wrote that approvals are too often stuck in slow processes handled one step at a time. "A counter-drone solution that cannot be employed is not a capability," the memo says.

The memo presents itself as a step in carrying out Executive Order 14305, dated June 6, 2025. That order made it US policy to protect the public, critical infrastructure and military installations from careless or unlawful drone use.

Gen. Gregory Guillot testified to senators in March 2026 as commander of U.S. Northern Command. He described a spike in drone intrusions over military installations in the past year, Defense News reported. He said part of the rise may reflect better detection. He also said about a quarter of detected drones were now defeated, against almost none a year earlier.

The department is also awarding large contracts. On September 29, 2026, JIATF-401 and the Army announced 10 counter-drone contracts with a combined ceiling of $4.15 billion, DefenseScoop reported. A ceiling is the most that can be spent, not money committed. Officials said only $50 million had been obligated as of that date.

Who is JIATF-401?

Hegseth announced the task force in August 2025. Under his directive, it was to replace an older office for countering small drones and report to the deputy secretary, DefenseScoop reported at the time. It was set up as the Pentagon's lead organization for developing ways to defeat small drones. The new memo says JIATF-401 is part of the Unmanned Systems Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager, an organization established in June 2026. Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross was its director as of late September 2026.

The new memo widens its job. JIATF-401 is to track barriers across the department, spot duplicate reviews and bring unresolved problems to senior leaders.

A task force spokesperson, Army Lt. Col. Adam Scher, told DefenseScoop that it is working to streamline approvals. Defense Daily reported that the memo makes the task force's authority to cut duplication more explicit.

What is still unknown, and what comes next?

Two deadlines run 30 days from the memo's publication. They cover the single network-approval process and the spectrum review. The memo does not say which day counts as publication. Counting 30 days from the memo's date, September 28, gives October 28, 2026. Counting from its release on October 2 gives November 1, 2026.

Several things are not public:

• Neither the memo nor the release says how many requests are waiting, or how long approvals take today. The memo says only that some processes take months.
• The memo does not say whether denial records sent to JIATF-401 will be published.

As of September 29, JIATF-401 expected to sign more contracts before the end of October to reach a $7 billion ceiling, an official told DefenseScoop. Fully funding the awards depends on Congress, which has funded the government only until mid-December, the outlet reported.