WASHINGTON — CACI International has won a three-year, $500 million contract to provide its non-kinetic SkyValor counter-drone system, along with “other tactical” unmanned systems, to the Joint Interagency Taskforce (JIATF) 401, the company and task force announced today.
The contract is for full-rate production for the counter unmanned aerial systems (cUAS), according to a release from CACI, and as part of the initial task order the company will deliver the SkyValor systems for deployment “at critical mission locations.” The release does not detail where such locations will be,but a company spokesperson confirmed to Breaking Defense that the systems will be used for the Pentagon’s Domestic Shield program — a project aimed at protecting US military installations and critical infrastructure from drone threats.
“Warfighters need a decisive advantage against drone threats that are faster, more accessible, and harder to detect,” John Mengucci, CACI’s president and CEO said in the statement today. “SkyValor delivers that advantage through long-range detection, precision defeat, and the ability to adapt as drone threats evolve, giving defenders the time and intelligence to stop threats before they put our forces, borders, and critical infrastructure at risk.”
A CACI spokesperson declined to comment on how many systems the company would be providing and when those deliveries would take place.
The award comes as the Pentagon has streamlined counter-drone efforts, both for border security and international conflicts — namely Operation Epic Fury — over the past several months.
The SkyValor system specializes in providing “early warning detection” and uses radio frequency sensing and artificial intelligence-enabled electronic warfare to take down drone threats, according to the company. The system was previously tested by JIATF-401 at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz., and in “close coordination” with Joint Task Force-Southern Border and Customs and Border Protection, a JIATF-401 release from last month read.
“The evaluation validated the system’s advanced non-kinetic defeat tools and electronic warfare mitigation techniques designed to safely and effectively neutralize sUAS [small unmanned aerial systems] threats with low collateral impact,” the JIATF-401 release read. “This system provides another tool as part of a layered defense to counter drone threats in the homeland.”
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Separately, CACI received a contract back in April through a JIATF-401 commercial solutions offering to deliver four SkyValor units to the task force, though the company declined to reveal the delivery timeline for the systems. The four systems will be integrated onto a heavy-duty truck, providing a mobile counter UAS solution, according to CACI’s release today.
Earlier this month, JIATF-401 also awarded AeroVironment (AV) a $500 million three-year contract for a “range” of its cUAS and counter-small UAS products to help support Domestic Shield. The first task order under the $500 million contract was for the company’s Titan Multi-Sensor system, which is an AI-powered “multi-sensor fusion solution that detects, identifies, tracks” and defeats drone threats, according to the company.