Five years after the Pentagon created an office to coordinate its counter-drone efforts, it’s trying again.

The new Joint Interagency Task Force 401 will spearhead its acquisition and integration of air defense systems to take down small unmanned aerial systems, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday in a video first posted to X.

The group will “rapidly deliver Joint C-sUAS capabilities to America's warfighters, defeat adversary threats, and promote sovereignty over national airspace,” Hegseth wrote in a memo dated Wednesday.

The memo also shuts down the existing Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office , which has been around since February 2020. It will also integrate the department’s Replicator 2 efforts.

“The JCO had great intentions but struggled to

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