Counter-UAS as a Structural Layer of Integrated Air and Missile Defence
Addressing the Low-Altitude Saturation Gap in NATO and EU Air Defence Architectures
18 pages · PDF · 20 February 2026 · Licensed single-user copy, watermarked to the buyer
Strategic Electronic Warfare & Spectrum Dominance Radar Systems
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About this report
Counter-UAS capability is no longer a peripheral force-protection function but a structural requirement within integrated air and missile defence. The operational failure it addresses is the persistence of an unmanaged low-altitude airspace in which large numbers of small, low-signature unmanned systems can operate with relative freedom, eroding surveillance, cueing fires, and degrading command-and-control resilience.
As NATO and the European Union adapt their air defence postures to saturation tactics, hybrid pressure, and contested electromagnetic environments, counter-UAS must be integrated as a layered, networked component of the broader IAMD construct.
Key questions this report answers
- Why is counter-UAS now a structural requirement within integrated air and missile defence rather than a peripheral force-protection function?
- How do system architecture, components and integration dependencies bind counter-UAS into layered, networked IAMD?
- Which technology-stack clusters, industrial base and value-chain actors underpin counter-UAS, and where are the bottlenecks?
- What performance thresholds and implications for companies, research and capital actors follow from saturation and contested-spectrum tactics?
Inside this report
- Performance requirements and adequacy thresholds
- System architecture, components and integration dependencies
- Technology stack and cluster mapping
- Industrial base, value chain, sustainment model and bottlenecks
- Implications for companies, research and capital actors
Who it's for
Strategy, corporate-development and investment teams that need an ecosystem-level view — budgets, industrial capacity and technology landscapes — before committing capital or capacity.
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Methodology, format & delivery
DFM reports are built from primary and official sources — TED procurement notices, CORDIS and the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, EIB operations, the NATO Innovation Fund portfolio, SIPRI data, official budget documents and company disclosures — read together with the underlying legal texts. Sources are cited in the document; it reflects them as of its publication date (20 February 2026). You receive a 18-page PDF, watermarked to you on every page, delivered on the confirmation page and by e-mail immediately after checkout (personal link valid 72 hours, up to 5 downloads). Guest checkout, single-user licence — Terms of Sale.
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