U.S. Department of Defense Counter-Unmanned Systems Strategy (Unclassified)

Key Chapter Title List

1. Strategic Environment
2. Our Strategic Approach
3. Our Strategic Pathways
4. Deepen Understanding and Awareness of Unmanned System Trends and Threats
5. Disrupt and Degrade Unmanned System Threat Networks
6. Defend Against Unmanned System Threats to U.S. Interests
7. Deliver Solutions with Greater Speed, Adaptability, and Scale
8. Develop and Design the Joint Force for the Unmanned System-Driven Future of Warfare
9. Strategy Implementation

Document Introduction

The rapid development and proliferation of unmanned systems are reshaping the nature of conflict, extending from traditional battlefields to the U.S. homeland, with profound implications for military tactics, operational principles, and innovation cycles. Driven by commercial innovation, artificial intelligence, autonomous technologies, and cyber capabilities, military forces of all sizes and non-state actors can leverage such systems to achieve their strategic objectives. This creates an asymmetric challenge of "democratization of precision strike," which undermines traditional deterrence capabilities and fosters new dynamics of conflict escalation.

To address this cross-domain, multi-dimensional threat, the U.S. Department of Defense has developed a classified strategy to unify departmental response pathways and outlines its core framework in this unclassified fact sheet. This strategy builds upon existing major DoD initiatives, including the establishment of the Joint Small Unmanned Systems Office, the formation of the Warfighter Senior Integration Group, and the advancement of the "Replicator 2" initiative, creating a near-, mid-, and long-term interconnected response system.

Centered on the core objective of "mitigating the potential negative impacts of unmanned systems on U.S. forces, assets, and facilities at home and abroad," the strategy constructs a multi-layered response logic: near-term focus on strengthening defensive capabilities, emphasizing improvements in detection, active defense, and passive defense; mid-to-long term focuses on reducing vulnerability and enhancing resilience through future force design, ensuring it keeps pace with the evolution of unmanned system technology to address more complex threat scenarios.

Five "Strategic Pathways" form the core pillars of strategy implementation: Deepen understanding and awareness of unmanned system trends and threats; Disrupt and degrade related threat networks; Defend against unmanned system threats to U.S. interests; Deliver solutions with greater speed and scale; and Develop the future Joint Force for unmanned system-driven warfare. Each pathway defines specific implementation directions, covering key areas such as intelligence awareness, network countermeasures, operational integration, technology research and development, and force transformation.

Strategy implementation emphasizes a "campaign mindset," requiring the Department of Defense to closely collaborate with U.S. interagency partners, Congress, and allies, integrating authorities, resources, and methods to maximize collective alliance advantages and interoperability. Simultaneously, leveraging the defense industrial and innovation ecosystem, it aims to enhance response speed and scale effects through rapid acquisition, modular solutions, cost-balanced control, and expanded experimentation and testing.

This strategy marks a critical step by the U.S. Department of Defense in addressing unmanned system threats, laying the groundwork for subsequent actions. The Department of Defense will establish clear assessment metrics and effectiveness measurement standards, continuously track progress, and dynamically adjust response measures based on threat evolution, ensuring the maintenance of defense superiority and operational effectiveness in the era of unmanned systems.