Pentagon’s counter-drone task force visited Kyiv before joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran to see how Ukrainians fight UAS
“I did go to Ukraine, and I went to understand the technology that they’re using to protect their sites and their people from the threat of unmanned systems,” the task force director told reporters Thursday. “I did it to understand the TTPs — the tactics, techniques and procedures that they’re employing very effectively to protect their forces.”
By
Drew F. Lawrence
March 5, 2026
Members of the Pentagon’s counter-drone task force were in Kyiv last week to understand how Ukraine’s military was protecting infrastructure and troops against Russian unmanned aerial systems — just before the start of joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran.
The revelation — which was delivered by Joint Interagency Task Force 401 director Brig. Gen. Matt Ross at an industry event in Virginia on Thursday — came just hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he received a request from the U.S. to support counter-drone operations in the Middle East against Iranian one-way attack platforms Russia has also used.
The U.S. and Israel launched a campaign against Iran on Saturday, dubbed Operation Epic Fury. Six American troops were killed by an apparent Iranian drone attack in Kuwait the following day, the military said, and news outlets have since reported additional UAS attacks on U.S. infrastructure in the region.
JIATF 401, an Army-led entity within the Defense Department, was established late last summer to proliferate counter-drone capabilities across the military. Since then it has developed expanded authorities for stateside base commanders to defend against drones and signaled a widespread fielding of “low-collateral” interceptors for U.S. installations, among other efforts.
https://defensescoop.com/2026/03/05/dod-counter-uas-task-force-ukraine-iran-shahed-drones/
