When dozens of drones flew over Langley Air Force Base in late 2023, it showed that military leaders didn’t think they had the power to shoot down the robotic aircraft over the United States.
The COUNTER Act, a new plan from both parties, aims to fix this problem by giving more bases the chance to become “covered facilities,” which means they will be able to shoot down drones that enter their airspace.
There is support for the new bill from both parties, which makes it more likely to become law. It’s being led by Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., both of the Senate’s Armed Services Committee. August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., are introducing similar bills in the House.
At the moment, only 180 of the U.S. sites in the United States are “covered facilities” that can interact with unidentified drones. Current law only has a narrow definition of a “covered facility.” This bill broadens that definition so that all military bases with clear perimeters can ask for permission to use drones.
The law also says that the secretary of defense must give combatant leaders the power to launch drone attacks. This will cut down on the time needed to get permission from higher-ups in an emergency.
“Leaving American military facilities vulnerable to drone incursions puts our service members, the general public and our national security at risk,” he said.
A group of unknown drones flew into restricted airspace over Langley for more than two weeks in December 2023. Langley is home to important national security sites and the F-22 Raptor stealth fighters.
Langley officials didn’t know what to do when these kinds of invasions happen because there aren’t any set rules. All they could do was let the 20-foot-long drones hover near their secret facilities.
Even now, the Pentagon hasn’t said much about the events other than to state that they happened. It’s not clear if it knows where the drones came from or what they were doing.
“As commercial drones become more commonplace, we must ensure that they are not being used to share sensitive information with our adversaries, to conduct attacks against our service members, or otherwise pose a threat to our national security,” she said.