- NCIA selects 16 field-deployed C-UAS solutions from Northrop Grumman, Axon & 3 others
- Offerings assessed against point, area, border & convoy protection scenarios
- 18-month framework contracts, with regular recompetes planned as drone threats evolve
NATO has opened a counter-drone marketplace where allies can buy any of 16 systems from five companies without holding their own competitions, a step intended to speed acquisition of drone defenses.
The NATO Communications and Information Agency ran the competition and oversees the marketplace for the alliance, the agency said Thursday. Drone Edge, the counter-drone acquisition initiative behind the marketplace, dates back to July, when allies introduced it at the NATO Summit Defence Industry Forum in Ankara, Turkey.
Which Companies Made NATO’s Counter-Drone Catalog?
Northrop Grumman and Axon Enterprise were selected along with Alta Ares, OSL UK and Quantum Systems. All 16 of their counter-unmanned aircraft systems, or C-UAS, solutions have already been deployed in allied nations and in Ukraine. NCIA holds the multi-award framework contracts behind the catalog, and nations place their orders against those agreements.
Three of the five vendors have announced other counter-drone work in recent years. Axon completed its acquisition of airspace security company Dedrone in October 2024, adding tools that defense agencies and military bases use to protect against hostile drones. In May, Quantum Systems signed a memorandum of understanding with Rohde & Schwarz to jointly develop electronic warfare and drone defense capabilities for unmanned systems. Northrop trained forces in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 2023 on its Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control system, which links their short-range air defense and capabilities against small drones to U.S. European Command’s air and missile defense plan.
How Were the C-UAS Solutions Evaluated?
NCIA assessed the offerings against four reference scenarios, each representing a different defensive mission. Two involve fixed locations: guarding a single high-value asset, such as a command post or critical infrastructure, and protecting a wider area up to 3 kilometers in diameter, such as an airbase.
The other scenarios cover surveillance and early detection along a 20-kilometer stretch of border, as well as defense of military convoys while they travel. The selected systems include models that operate from fixed positions, models that can be relocated between sites and models that work while moving.
How Long Will the Counter-Drone Contracts Run?
Each framework contract runs for 18 months after signature, with an option to extend. NATO plans to recompete the catalog regularly, citing how quickly both drone threats and counter-drone technologies are changing. The alliance has also earmarked $3.5 million for additional trials that nations or NATO commands may require.
How Else Are Allies Building Counter-Drone Capacity?
According to NCIA, the marketplace complements a separate commitment under Drone Edge to put more than $40 billion into counter-drone capabilities over five years. At the Ankara forum, allies pledged to train five times as many drone operators by the end of 2027.
The U.S. Army runs its own counter-drone marketplace. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, a 2026 Wash100 Award winner, signed a statement of intent with nine NATO allies and partners in June at the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris. Participants included France, Poland and the U.K. The agreement is intended to broaden their access to the service’s UAS Marketplace, which the Army launched in May with Amazon Web Services and which currently focuses on counter-drone technology.
Gen. Ingo Gerhartz, commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum, urged NATO and its European partners in September 2025 to increase spending on C-UAS capabilities, citing Russian drone incursions into Poland, Romania and Estonia. The general said the alliance should field low-cost sensors and effectors rather than rely solely on inexpensive drones or costly missile interceptors.
