Counter-UAS exercise: Ukraine joins NATO's “C-UAS TIE24” in the Netherlands for the first time

Whether commercial counter-UAS systems can work together seamlessly was tested in the Netherlands from 10 to 20 September. More than 450 participants from 19 NATO nations and three partner countries came together for this purpose. Alongside representatives from industry and research, Ukraine took part for the first time.

The exercise was organised by the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) and hosted by the C-UAS Joint Nucleus of the Dutch Ministry of Defence.

In total, more than 60 systems and technologies were tested live, including sensors, effectors, jammers and drones. The aim was to demonstrate that these solutions can be connected to one another straight away and interact smoothly.

Ukraine's first active participation stems from the roadmap for innovation cooperation between NATO and Ukraine. It was endorsed by the Allied heads of state and government and Ukraine at the 2024 Washington Summit. There, the Allies agreed on steps to further improve the readiness, responsiveness and integration of NATO's integrated air and missile defence. They also pledged to support the design and implementation of an integrated air and missile defence architecture for Ukraine.

Learning from Ukraine's counter-UAS experience

Exercises such as “C-UAS TIE24” offer an opportunity to tackle pressing challenges such as drone autonomy and interoperability together. At the same time, they allow participants to learn from Ukraine's combat experience in defending against small drones.

Major General Hans Folmer, Chief of Staff of the NCIA, described the situation during his visit to the exercise: “The commercial and military use of drones has increased rapidly, and unfortunately so has their misuse, particularly by non-state actors. This poses a growing threat to NATO's operations and everyday defence activities”.

Folmer continued: “In response, NATO has fully committed itself to a better understanding of drone detection and to developing effective countermeasures”. This exercise is clear proof of that commitment.”

Through its counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) centre of competence, the NCIA works closely with NATO's Emerging Security Challenges Division. Together they aim to ensure the interoperability of different C-UAS and components across the Alliance and to standardise data exchange between them. Central to this is the development of NATO's first counter-drone doctrine: it is to give the Alliance a solid framework for efficiently detecting, tracking and neutralising the threat.

Earlier “TIE” exercises had already identified optimal C-UAS architectures and standards for NATO to adopt. “C-UAS TIE24” built on these and tested further technical standards and solutions. It assessed how interoperable systems for countering Class I unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are with existing air and missile defence (AMD) capabilities.