Cape Canaveral is building up its counter-drone defenses, Space Force says

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.— Cape Canaveral Space Force Station will get new defenses against small drones in coming weeks, part of a “whole-of-government” effort to better protect the nation’s spaceports as the White House pushes for hundreds more launches per year.

The new gear will come from Joint Interagency Task Force 401, the Pentagon’s counterdrone task force, Space Force Col. Brian Chatman told Defense One on the sidelines of the annual Air, Space and Cyber Conference here. Chatman commands Space Launch Delta 45, which oversees all East Coast launch missions.

Cape Canaveral is “top of their list” for “investing in additional capability,” Chatman said.

“We’re going to see an inject of new capability here in the very short term from JIATF 401, based on the latest and greatest in technology that’s out there,” Chatman said. “That’ll be integrated in with everything we have today.”

Cape Canaveral, the nation’s busiest launch facility, launched 109 rockets last year; its California counterpart at Vandenberg Space Force Base supported 66. Chatman said securing such facilities is a growing national-security priority as the U.S. military calls for more satellites and the White House pushes for 1,000 launches and re-entries by decade’s end. 

Defense experts and wargame planners have warned about launchpads’ vulnerability to attacks from land or sea. In June, the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies described several potentially catastrophic scenarios. For example, mysterious explosions on the bridges that connect the cape to the mainland could put “East Coast launch operations at a halt,” the paper said.

Chatman said Cape Canaveral is well-protected against aircraft, but not smaller drones.

“It’s great today that my radars can see a Cessna up to a 747,” Chatman said, but he needs to be able to detect a “747 down to a quadcopter.”

Chatman and a Space Launch Delta 45 spokesperson did not say what technology was being provided by JIATF 401. The task force deploys defenses as prioritized by combatant commanders.

“While I will not speak to specific capabilities at specific locations, our strategic installations are prioritized for c-UAS fielding,” Lt. Col. Adam Scher, a JIATF 401 spokesperson, wrote in an email. “In this capacity, we work in support of U.S. Northern Command and each of the Services to ensure their installations are protected from the illicit use of drones.”  

“There is no silver bullet, and we remain focused on accelerating the delivery of innovative capabilities at speed and scale,” Scher said. 

In a twist, private space companies are also interested in spending money to improve security at the Space Force base.

Chatman said base security typically takes about 10 minutes to inspect and clear a truck coming onto Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. He said he’d heard from one company that said they’d be willing to spend their own money to make that more efficient.

“One of the launch service providers came to us and said, ‘With the amount of construction we have going on, we want to pay to put some type of automated scan, like a rapid scan type system” in, Chatman said. “This particular solution we’re looking at, you can drive a vehicle through and in 30 seconds, it can give you a go/no go to reduce from a 10-minute timeline. And this particular launch service provider is looking to cut a check to put that capability in because it increases their commitment, but also increases everyone else that has to have that inspection on their trucks on the throughput side of the house.”

But the Space Force needs more than new tech at its launch facilities; it also needs more people.

In July, the Government Accountability Office reported  that one-quarter of the jobs Space Force leaders say they need went unfilled in fiscal 2025, largely because the service couldn’t track its personnel 

An official at one Space Launch delta told GAO that “supporting increased space launch operations is becoming more challenging and unsustainable.” Another, at a Space Base delta said a lack of funded civil-engineering positions is “leading to a higher risk of mission failure, and that the Space Force is taking risk against wartime readiness requirements and Joint Force needs.”

Manning shortfalls forced one delta to close one of its six fire stations in a squadron that could not “meet National Fire Protection Association safety standards.” The report said that “providing enough fire crew support for launches leaves the remainder of the base vulnerable in case of an emergency.” 

Chatman told reporters during a roundtable earlier in the day that he doesn’t view the White House’s call for 1,000 launches per year as pressure, but rather as advocacy for his mission. He also said that will take more than Space Force personnel.

“The Space Force can’t do it alone. It requires heavily on a partnership with the Air Force for that base operations support personnel, and so we are advocating across the Air Force for additional bodies, whether it’s firefighters or security forces or civil engineers, to come in and continue support as we have this expansive growth,” Chatman said. “One big thing that’s changed over time to where we are today is you’re seeing a whole-of-government approach, and focus, on the launch industry.”