AFRICOM advances drone swarm defense system in second field test

STUTTGART, Germany — To better protect troops from modern aerial threats, U.S. Africa Command completed a second successful field test of its low-cost, drone-swarm defense system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in Livermore, California, April 27 to May 1, 2026.

The CURTAIN CALL system showed measurable progress in short-range air defense against Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) threats. Building upon the initial field test from February when cameras and sensors detect a threat, they immediately alert a human operator, who can quickly launch a defensive "curtain" of drones to intercept it.

During the five-day event, the team tested how the system handles an attack from a single drone versus a coordinated attack from multiple drones at once. The results showed the defense system tracked these threats and responded faster than during earlier tests.

“Our first demonstration gave us initial technical feasibility insights; this second event brought the concept to life in a controlled environment,” said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jared Bindl, chief innovation officer at AFRICOM. “We were able to successfully track coordinated threats and provide near real-time cueing of the defensive drone swarm, which inches us closer to closing the gap between concept and a layer for deployable, low-cost defense system solutions.”

Several key operational objectives were met during the tests, including validating direct communication with the drone swarm, launching a swarm into action as soon as a human operator approved the target engagement.

The evaluation also validated the integration of the Tactical Awareness Kit (TAK), which provides a visual display of the current threat situation and facilitates data-sharing among multiple levels of command.

Additionally, engineers assessed how quickly and effectively the drone swarm reacted to incoming threat data. The event highlighted technical limitations to build a roadmap for operational relevancy while capturing critical data to support modeling, simulation and future concept development.

The data collected during the Livermore tests will directly inform AFRICOM's concept of operations. By exposing system realities and identifying key gaps, the command aims to refine CURTAIN CALL as a potential, cost-effective solution for future force protection needs.