Lt. Gen. Christopher J. Niemi outlines the U.S. Air Force's strategic shift to independently defend military bases against diverse drone and missile threats.

Lt. Gen. Christopher J. Niemi, the Air Force’s Chief Modernization Officer, is leading a significant shift in how the service protects its installations. For the first time since the 1990s, the Air Force is taking primary responsibility for defending its own bases using both kinetic and non-kinetic destructive effectors. This move addresses a critical gap where the service previously relied on the Army to provide primary air defense. The administration announced that the Air Force will focus on three initial threat sets: small unmanned aerial systems (UAS), one-way attack drones, and subsonic cruise missiles. To support this, the service issued a Request for Information seeking a single ground-based launcher capable of intercepting everything from small quadcopters to large fixed-wing aircraft and high-speed cruise missiles. Lt. Gen. Christopher J. Niemi emphasized that the challenge is institutional rather than just technological, requiring new manpower, training pipelines, and career fields. This initiative follows heavy strikes during Operation Epic Fury, which highlighted the vulnerability of U.S. bases to low-cost, high-volume threats.

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