Air bases have long been a valuable target, where our most potent assets are static, concentrated, and at their most vulnerable. Defence’s investment of $2 billion for critical air bases, in response to the Defence Strategic Review, recognises this risk and includes providing more hardened shelters for aircraft and security upgrades to bases across Australia’s north. This investment is focussed mainly on the threat from air or missile attack.
DroneShield’s experience in Ukraine, where over 1000 of our systems are deployed, shows an emerging and increasing threat. Both Russians and Ukrainians have attacked air bases with unmanned aerial systems (UAS) – or drones, and their success shows the need to respond to this growing challenge.
Drone activity above US airbases in the UK late last year shows that the threat also includes surveillance, intelligence gathering and disruption. UAS are asymmetric, posing a high level of risk at a relatively low cost to advanced platforms like the F-35 and Wedgetail – where many billions of dollars of aircraft can be on a flight line. They can disrupt air operations and force closures of airbases with relative ease. This is a challenge the RAAF cannot ignore.
As one of the world’s leading counter-UAS (CUAS) manufacturers, DroneShield works with clients globally to develop best-in-class CUAS functions for their air base defence, and has identified the following principles clients should consider when designing their CUAS response:
- Use a layered approach to provide depth in security
- Create early warning
- Use soft and hard-kill responses
- Understand drone behaviour
A layered approach to base defence provides the best chances of success. With technology developing so rapidly, no system is 100 per cent effective against 100 per cent of UAS threats. To help combat this, much like a physical security system of fences, guards and cameras, a layered approach offers the best chance for success. Alongside integrated sensors, DroneShield’s C2 provides a consolidated situational awareness picture to the decision maker to enable them to identify and respond to threats. This picture should be held at the appropriate classification – in Base Operations Centres – to allow decision making and threat assessment to be synchronised with activities like air traffic control and help maintain a common operating picture for the entire air base.
Early warning of approaching UAS, in the vicinity of 4-10km from key assets, gives the optimum time to assess threats and make proactive decisions. DroneShield’s platforms allow alert zones to be set, providing automated notifications as threats approach key assets like aircraft or fuel installations. Friendly UAS activity can be tagged to reduce confusion and improve operational clarity.
A choice of soft and hard-kill responses such as RF jamming and laser systems, through to microwave directed energy, provide flexibility and gives the best chance of success. Responses need to consider ROE and collateral damage, particularly at bases in close proximity to civilian populations.
Understanding drone behaviour is becoming just as important as detecting their presence. DroneShield’s platforms use advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse patterns in drone activity, including flight paths, loiter times, and swarm behaviour, to enhance early threat recognition and prediction. This allows operators to move beyond reactive defence and start shaping proactive, intelligence-led responses. AI-enhanced behaviour profiling helps distinguish between friendly or hostile UAS, sharpening the effectiveness of both soft and hard-kill responses while reducing false alarms.
As Australia’s leading counter-drone systems integrator, DroneShield’s platforms provide an integrated approach to the CUAS threat to airfields which offers the best chance of success as this threat continues to grow in the future.
Oleg Vornik
Oleg Vornik is CEO and Managing Director of DroneShield (ASX:DRO)
Image DroneShield’s DroneSentry-X Mk2 provided drone detection capabilities at the 2025 Avalon Australian International Airshow
