WHAT THIS IS

The CUAS Brief is a monthly read on the counter-UAS market, built entirely from public records. It covers regulation, deployments, grants, and contract awards, aggregated and summarized for the people who buy and deploy these systems. We’re launching with the Regulatory layer fully live; Deployments, Grants, and Awards are being built and start appearing in upcoming issues. Everything links back to a primary source.

REGULATORY: FEDERAL

The biggest shift is two executive orders signed June 6, 2025. E.O. 14305 (Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty, 90 FR 24719) stands up a federal counter-UAS task force and pushes detection, tracking, and protection of critical infrastructure and mass gatherings. E.O. 14307 (Unleashing American Drone Dominance, 90 FR 24729) directs the FAA toward routine BVLOS operations and prioritizes U.S.-made drones.

The FY2026 NDAA (P.L. 119-60) reauthorized the core DHS/DOJ authority (6 U.S.C. §124n) and moved to extend it toward state, local, tribal, and territorial partners, the long-debated SLTT expansion. It also recodified the DOE/NNSA nuclear-facility authority (former 50 U.S.C. §2661 → 10 U.S.C. §6227).

Who can legally mitigate a drone today still comes down to four federal authorities: DHS/DOJ (6 U.S.C. §124n), DoD (10 U.S.C. §130i), the FAA’s airport hazard-mitigation program (49 U.S.C. §44810, testing authority extended through 2028), and DOE/NNSA (10 U.S.C. §6227). Outside those, mitigation is off the table. On deck: H.R. 5061 (119th Congress) would extend and reshape that authority.

REGULATORY: STATE

More than 40 states now have at least one UAS statute. Most target correctional facilities, critical infrastructure, and surveillance/privacy; a smaller group authorizes law-enforcement use, usually with a warrant. The line that matters for buyers is detection vs. mitigation. State law mostly governs where drones fly and who can watch, not active interdiction, which stays federally constrained.

Comprehensive frameworks worth knowing: Texas (Gov’t Code Ch. 423, covering critical infrastructure, venues, now spaceports), Florida (§330.41 plus the §934.50 surveillance act), Tennessee (§39-13-903, a critical-infrastructure felony), and California (Penal Code §4577, drones over prisons). Newest movement: New Mexico’s SB 136 (2026, pending) would add surveillance and critical-infrastructure offenses, and South Carolina’s H.4679 (pending) would overhaul its correctional-facility statutes.

DEPLOYMENTS · GRANTS · AWARDS

Tracker in development. First entries land in an upcoming issue, sourced from the public record, same as everything above.

HOW THIS IS BUILT

Every item is aggregated from public sources and tied to a primary citation. The trackers are the live, queryable layer; the Brief is the monthly synthesis of what moved. Tune in monthly.