Echodyne MESA Radar Joins JIATF-401 C-UAS Marketplace Under $250M IDIQ

Echodyne has secured an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with a $250 million ceiling supporting the Domestic Shield program of Joint Interagency Task Force 401 (JIATF-401), the Pentagon’s lead counter-drone organization, the Kirkland, Washington-based radar maker announced on September 30, 2026. The vehicle carries an ordering period of up to 36 months and lists Echodyne’s Metamaterials Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radars on the JIATF-401 Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) Marketplace for US and allied buyers.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered JIATF-401’s creation in August 2025 to replace the Army-led Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office (JCO), giving its director authority to approve up to $50 million per initiative. Domestic Shield, the task force’s homeland effort, expands defensive perimeters around high-risk facilities, streamlines threat identification and delegates protection authorities. Echodyne’s award follows a sole-source, three-year IDIQ worth up to $500 million issued to AeroVironment under the same program in July 2026. The contracting activity, initial obligation and competition status of the Echodyne vehicle were not disclosed.

Echodyne MESA Radar Architecture and EchoShield Performance Envelope

According to the company, MESA steers beams electronically without the thousands of phase shifters found in conventional electronically scanned array (ESA) designs, cutting the size, weight, power and cost penalty that has kept high-end ESA radars off most tactical C-UAS kits. Waveforms, beam scheduling and classification run in software, so the radar can be updated as drone threats evolve without a hardware swap.

EchoShield, the medium-range radar at the center of the offer, is a Ku-band pulse-Doppler set operating between 15.4 and 16.6 GHz. Publicly available specifications indicate a 130-degree azimuth by 90-degree elevation field of view, angular accuracy better than 0.5 degrees in both planes, a 10 Hz track update rate and more than 1,000 simultaneous tracks. The unit weighs 19.2 kilograms, draws less than 250 W when operating and carries IP67 and MIL-STD-810H ratings. Echodyne lists perimeter surveillance ranges beyond 9.4 kilometers for personnel and 12.5 kilometers for vehicles; the announcement gives no tracking range against specific drone groups.

Those figures carry operational weight. Sub-0.5-degree accuracy at 10 Hz yields tracks precise enough to cue electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) sensors, radio-frequency defeat systems or interceptors without a dedicated fire control radar. The 90-degree elevation coverage addresses drones diving from directly overhead, a blind spot for many surveillance radars. Onboard machine-learning models classify fixed-wing and multirotor drones, a function that matters most at domestic sites, where false alarms against birds or hobbyist aircraft carry legal and political costs. The low weight and power draw support fixed, portable and on-the-move installations from one radar.

C-UAS Marketplace Access and the Allied Procurement Pipeline

The marketplace, launched in late February 2026 and backed by an Army IDIQ, lets Department of War components and other federal agencies compare validated C-UAS equipment and place orders directly. The United Kingdom, Romania, Poland, Australia and South Korea have signed agreements to buy through it. Task force figures show $13 million in marketplace purchases as of April, rising to $21 million by early August.

“Our approach allows us to identify the right capabilities for specific operational requirements and rapidly deliver those capabilities to the warfighter,” said US Army Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, director of JIATF-401.

Echodyne says its radars are already integrated into hundreds of C-UAS systems worldwide, many listed on the same marketplace. The new vehicle opens a direct route to the sensor itself, whether to upgrade fielded systems or build site-specific architectures. On July 10, 2026, the company opened an 86,350-square-foot plant in Washington State, a $40 million investment designed to eventually exceed 30,000 radars per year.

Analysis: The award shows JIATF-401 buying the sensor layer separately from integrated defeat systems. In the homeland, where kinetic and electronic defeat options remain tightly constrained by law, the quality of detection, tracking and classification largely determines what an installation commander can do and how quickly data reaches interagency partners. Pairing a $500 million integrator vehicle with a $250 million sensor vehicle lets the task force mix suppliers site by site. The ceiling is headroom, not revenue: marketplace sales across all vendors stood at $21 million in August, roughly one-twelfth of Echodyne’s ceiling alone.

First task orders will show whether domestic installations or allied militaries lead early buying. Ramp-up at the Washington plant, as manufacturing moves out of Kirkland, will test the 30,000-unit capacity claim. JIATF-401 also faces a sunset review 36 months after its 2025 establishment, a decision point that falls inside this contract’s ordering window.