MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- Air University students are working through one of the more persistent challenges facing the Joint Force: how to counter small, widely available drones that don’t fit neatly into existing defense systems. As the character of warfare continues to shift, the university is connecting education more directly to real-world application.
That effort is centered in Alpha Blue, part of the Air University Innovation Accelerator. Students are given real problems from the field and expected to produce ideas that can be tested quickly. It’s less about getting it perfect and more about finding out what works.
During a recent Alpha Blue engagement, students from the Air War College and Air Command and Staff College focused on countering small unmanned aerial systems. The issue continues to show up across operating environments, from overseas locations to installations at home, and it’s growing faster than many current systems were designed to handle.
“Recent conflicts from across the Middle East and throughout Ukraine have signaled a dramatic change to the character of warfare with the increased use of unmanned aerial systems,” said Lt. Col. Shain Bestick, Air War College student. “Governments are scrambling to counter this threat.”
Small, commercially available drones are now widely accessible and increasingly capable. Many are inexpensive, easy to modify and difficult to track once airborne.
“It’s not just conventional militaries,” said U.S. Army Col. Ron Stewart, Air War College student. “Everything from terrorist organizations to lone actors are able to get their hands on this technology and create serious threats.”
To better understand the issue, the team worked with operators, program offices, academic partners and industry. Those conversations helped narrow the focus and highlight where current approaches fall short.
“We knew that engaging stakeholders early and often would help us shape our understanding of the problem set,” Stewart said. “There’s a lot happening in this space, but the threat is exceeding the pace we can keep up with.”
Several challenges came up consistently. Systems are expensive, don’t scale well and don’t always connect with each other. There is also a gap between military capabilities and what is allowed in civil airspace.
“Military and civil organizations don’t have an integrated way to detect, locate, discriminate and defeat these threats at scale,” Stewart said.
From there, the team explored a different approach. Instead of relying on large, centralized systems, they looked at what could be done with smaller, distributed tools already in use. Their concept uses commercial devices and multiple sensing methods to detect and track drones, with processing done locally instead of relying on a constant network connection.
“We are changing the game from centralized systems to distributed networks,” Bestick said. “Our architecture uses a mesh of commercial devices and processes data locally, reducing cost and increasing resilience.”
To test the concept, the team partnered with Auburn University at Montgomery and Troy University and focused on rapid prototyping. The goal was to see if the idea worked, not to build a finished system.
“In less than 24 hours, a student team demonstrated a software solution that could differentiate between multiple classes of drones,” said Lt. Col. Gene Carder, Air War College student. “Our focus was on learning over perfection and validating key assumptions.”
Students built additional prototypes using commercial hardware and artificial intelligence tools while keeping costs low. Some of those systems are now moving toward flight testing, which will provide a better sense of how they perform outside a controlled environment.
Legal and policy considerations remain part of the equation, particularly for operations within the United States.
“We had to ensure the system was legally permissible, especially when operating in the national airspace and accounting for privacy protections,” said Maj. Allison Johnson, Air Command and Staff College student. “The goal is to augment human decision-making while maintaining accountability and minimizing data exposure.”
The team also pointed to broader challenges, including fragmented approaches across the services and the lack of a shared data environment to support artificial intelligence development.
“There’s a lot of reinventing the wheel,” Johnson said. “A shared data repository would significantly accelerate progress across the Department of War.”
Efforts like Alpha Blue are not meant to replace existing programs. They help frame problems earlier, test ideas faster and give leaders a clearer understanding of what might work before larger decisions are made.
At its core, that is where Air University fits. It develops joint warfighters who can work through complex problems and contribute right away while also producing ideas that help the force adjust as challenges evolve.
“This prototype is just the beginning,” Bestick said. “We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished and look forward to the next iteration.” Air University continues to connect education, innovation and operational problem-solving in a way that stays grounded in the mission.