Counter-drone specialist DroneShield has been awarded a $24.9 million contract supporting the U.S. Department of War's Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401), the Pentagon's lead coordinating body for counter-unmanned aerial system efforts across the Joint Force. The award is one of two JIATF-401 contracts the Australian-listed company picked up the same week, pushing its near-term US counter-drone bookings past $33 million.
Inside the JIATF-401 award
The contract carries an initial value of $19.3 million with up to $5.6 million in end-user options across a five-year period and covers mobile and fixed-site counter-drone hardware, subscriptions, warranties and services. DroneShield will deliver against the contract through 2026 and 2027, with at least $10 million of the initial value expected to land as committed FY2026 revenue. Alongside its own kit — including the DroneSentry, DroneSentry-X Mk2 and DroneGun families — the award requires the company to procure and integrate interoperable third-party solutions.
JIATF-401's expanding C-UAS sweep
JIATF-401, stood up to synchronise counter-UAS capability across the U.S. Joint Force, has accelerated awards as drone threats have proliferated on the southern border, around critical infrastructure, and across overseas military bases. The task force separately awarded DroneShield a $13.8 million Southern Border deal during the same week. The buildout fits a broader pattern of layered C-UAS investment: see our recent coverage of CACI's SkyValor validation at Yuma, the Cornyn counter-UAS standards bill, and Perennial Autonomy's $500M Pentagon IDIQ.
A widening US footprint
DroneShield U.S. President Ray Fitzgerald said the deal "demonstrates continued confidence in our ability to deliver operationally relevant counter-drone capabilities at scale," while CEO Angus Bean called out demand for systems that combine rapid deployment with persistent airspace coverage. The award lands alongside contracts at L3Harris, iRocket and M-tron Industries, underscoring how counter-UAS is becoming a steady-state Pentagon procurement line rather than a one-off response.
Reporting based on coverage from DroneShield, Defense Daily, and Inside Unmanned Systems.