The New Frontline: Hardening space power against UAS threats

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Laura Vilalobos, 21st Security Forces Squadron response force member, conducts training as part of a field training exercise on Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, March 18, 2025. During the exercise, the Defenders of 21st SFS adapted their tactics to assess and respond to emerging battlefield threats. (U.S. Space Force photo by Senior Airman Justin Todd)

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The New Frontline: Hardening space power against UAS threats

(from left) U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Blake Narrell, Staff Sgt. Christian Flores, Senior Airman Djey Dorgilus and Senior Airman Ian Aguilar, Security Forces members at the 6th Space Warning Squadron (6 SWS), pose in front of the Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR) facility at Cape Cod Space Force Station, Massachusetts, May 9, 2024. 6 SWS, located at Cape Cod Space Force Station in Sagamore, Massachusetts, is a geographically separated unit of Space Delta 4, Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado. "Team 6" includes U.S. Space Force Guardians, U.S. Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force Airmen and civilian employees. Their mission is "To surveil air and space to detect missile launches and high-interest satellites while operating, maintaining, and protecting New England’s first Space Force installation.” (U.S. Space Force photo by Dave Grim)

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The New Frontline: Hardening space power against UAS threats

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Neal Tyagi, 21st Civil Engineering Squadron explosive ordnance disposal technician, left, learns about the capabilities and handling of a drone buster from Staff Sgt. Colton Heinrich, 50th Security Force Squadron Electronic Security Systems and Counter-sUAS noncommissioned officer in charge, right, at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, Mar. 17, 2026. The training highlights the 50th Security Forces Squadron’s collaboration with Emergency Management and Explosive Ordnance Disposal to detect, respond to and safely neutralize drone threats while protecting personnel and mission operations. (U.S. Space Force photo by Tiana Williams)

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The New Frontline: Hardening space power against UAS threats

Published June 25, 2026
By Ashley D. George, USSF Combat Froces Command Public Affairs

PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. -- For decades, the American public has viewed U.S.-based military installations as safe havens—secure environments where military members train, stage, and prepare to deploy overseas. Today, however, these installations are no longer passive support hubs. For the U.S. Space Force, they have become active power‑projection platforms. Operating under a no‑fail mandate, these facilities must remain resilient and fully functional as U.S. Space Force and Joint warfighters inside them engage in real‑time global operations.

These warfighters maneuver mission critical satellite constellations, deliver real‑time missile‑warning data to theater commanders, and manage complex space‑domain awareness networks, ensuring Space Control and sustaining the modern way of life, largely from right here in Colorado.

Because the mission is often executed from home station, the installation itself becomes a primary weapon system—and it is Airmen, not Guardians, who provide the essential power, communications, resiliency, and protection that keep it operational. This is a central focus for Combat Forces Command and its Space Base Deltas, which include Buckley Space Force Base, Peterson SFB, and Schriever SFB.

“To protect these critical nodes, our installations are abandoning the outdated, passive perimeter defense mindset” said U.S. Space Force Brig. Gen. Casey Beard, Combat Forces Command deputy commander. “We are improving our future force to respond to any threat by developing solutions with greater speed, adaptability, and scale.”

The variable threat
Acknowledging bases as active power projection platforms means accepting an uncomfortable truth: home-stations are not exempt from the threats of modern conflict.

Today, the Space Force is wide awake to emerging threats, including Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS). Off-the-shelf drones could be used for unauthorized surveillance, to disrupt critical power grids, or to sever communication lines that connect a console in Colorado to a satellite in orbit.

"Modern threats demand modern partnerships. Our agreements with the Aurora Police Department and the FBI have strengthened our defenses and set a national standard. Together with the Space Force’s incoming suite of multi-domain sensors and defeat mechanisms, we are ensuring that low‑cost drones pose no meaningful threat to Buckley," said U.S. Space Force Col. Eamon Murray, Space Base Delta 2 commander at Buckley SFB.

Securing the homeland and protecting critical power projection platforms demands strong, continuous collaboration between military installations, local communities, and congressional advocates to ensure the necessary authorities and resources are available to counter modern threats.

“Buckley does not fight alone, nor do we deter alone," said Murray. "Deep, enduring relationships with our community partners are what allow us to succeed, distinguish us from competitors, and ensure the effective employment of counter‑small UAS measures."

These measures include advanced directed-energy systems, specifically high-energy lasers and high-power microwaves.

Protected by advanced directed-energy systems
When multi-model sensors, capable of tracking anomalies miles beyond the base perimeter, detect an incoming rogue drone, directed-energy counter systems offer a silent, instantaneous, and highly effective response. A high-power microwave can fry the circuitry of an entire drone swarm in a microsecond, while a precision laser can burn through a single target's rotors. Crucially, these specialized defeat mechanisms explicitly minimize collateral risks. They allow security forces to neutralize threats seamlessly without endangering the civilian personnel, surrounding communities, or delicate infrastructure that neighbors these bases.

“Effective counter-UAS requires a layered approach encompassing threat detection, tracking, and neutralization,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Kenneth Klock, commander of Space Base Delta 1 at Peterson SFB.

The new shield defending these power projection platforms is operated under Title 10 authorities, which gives military installations permission to detect drones that operate near and over the installation.

“The ability to employ radio frequency disruption at Schriever provides our security forces with a surgical response option,” said U.S. Space Force Col. Eric D. Bogue, commander of Space Base Delta 41 at Schriever SFB.

“We can instantly disable a hostile drone without firing a single kinetic round, which is absolutely vital when protecting an installation.”

The modern frontline
Space superiority does not begin in orbit; Space Force bases serve as hyper-connected command centers where Guardians and Airmen actively defend the nation every single day.

On this modern frontline, Airmen directly enable the Guardians who operate warning centers, monitor radars, and maneuver critical satellite constellations.

By recognizing these bases as the active power projection platforms they are, and fielding futuristic directed-energy shields today, the Department of the Air Force is ensuring the homeland remains secure. The ultimate high ground is only as resilient as the terrestrial foundation it relies upon, and that foundation is being hardened for whatever threats come next.