US Bases ‘Ill-Equipped’ For Iran-Style Drone Swarms? Pentagon Braces For MASSIVE Attack | Watch

American military bases at home aren't ready for a drone swarm attack. That's the blunt assessment from a top U.S. Northern Command official, and it's raising serious questions about how exposed domestic installations really are. Army Lieutenant General Joseph Jarrard is Deputy Commander of NORTHCOM and Vice Commander of NORAD's American side. Speaking at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium, he said the military is still racing to build tactics for stopping drone swarms and admitted, quote, the U.S. isn't there yet. Detection Jarrard said bases often lack the sensors needed to spot an incoming swarm in time, and even when threats are spotted, the weapons to knock them down aren't always in place either. A guide from Joint Interagency Task Force 401 put it starkly, once a drone is overhead, the critical window for protection has usually already closed. This isn't a theoretical worry. Small, cheap attack drones have already reshaped modern warfare. Last year, Ukraine's Operation Spider's Web smuggled dozens of drones into Russian territory hidden in trucks, then launched a coordinated strike that tore through Russian military infrastructure, closer to U.S. interests. During this year's conflict with Iran, an Iranian-backed militia used small first-person view drones to strike an American airbase in Baghdad. Footage released by the militia showed the drone surveying its target before slamming into it. Jarrard didn't mince words about the state of American readiness. Bases are, in his term, ill-equipped, and these attacks are happening globally on a near-daily basis. So what's the Pentagon doing about it? Several tracks are in motion. Directed energy weapons, specialized ammunition built for fast-moving swarms, and compact missile launchers designed specifically for counter-drone defense. One near-term step. Sources say the Army plans to add laser weapons to base defenses soon. The Department of Defense is targeting at least five bases for directed energy systems by the end of the year. It's a start, but by the military's own admission, there's a real gap between the threat drones pose right now and the defenses currently in place to stop them. For now, the message from NORTHCOM's own deputy commander is blunt. The U.S. knows the danger, and it's still catching up.