U.S. Air Force to buy 60 DroneBuster counter-drone systems

The U.S. Air Force wants to buy 60 handheld counter-drone jammers for its Pacific forces, according to a solicitation Pacific Air Forces published September 8, though the purchase can’t move forward until funding becomes available.

The notice, posted by PACAF’s 18th Contracting Squadron, calls for 60 DroneBuster 5 units equipped with a GPS-focused add-on kit, intended to boost the command’s ability to detect and defeat small drones across its area of responsibility in the Indo-Pacific. Companies have until September 11 to submit responses. The Air Force said in the notice that funds for the contract are not currently available, and that it has no legal obligation to pay for the purchase until money is formally allocated and the contracting officer confirms it in writing.

The DroneBuster is a handheld radio-frequency jammer originally developed by Portland, Oregon-based Flex Force Enterprises. Roughly the size and shape of a rifle, it disrupts the radio link between a small drone and its operator, and can also jam GPS signals the drone relies on for navigation. Flex Force is now part of DZYNE Technologies, a defense technology company that absorbed Flex Force through a series of private equity acquisitions completed in 2024, after which DZYNE itself was acquired by Ondas Inc. for roughly $875.8 million in July 2026 and folded into Ondas’s Sentinel autonomous defense business.

The Pentagon’s Joint Counter-UAS Office has designated the DroneBuster the only handheld electronic attack system it has approved for defeating drones, and the company has said it has delivered more than 1,700 units worldwide to the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and a range of international militaries and police agencies, including a 2025 contract to supply Australia’s defense force under its LAND 156 counter-drone program.

The version PACAF is requesting, the DroneBuster 5, adds a capability earlier models lacked. According to Flex Force, newer DroneBuster variants can take over a drone’s onboard flight computer rather than simply jamming its signal, letting the operator interrupt a GPS-guided drone that’s flying a pre-programmed route without a live operator to jam in the first place. Flex Force has said that capability works at distances of roughly 800 to 1,400 meters (2,600 to 4,600 feet). Standard DroneBuster units run on rechargeable batteries, weigh under 5 pounds (2.3 kilograms), and offer about three hours of continuous jamming or ten hours of drone detection on a single charge, with the company saying new users can learn basic operation in under five minutes.

The solicitation includes two corrections issued after its initial posting. One notes that the document had mistakenly referenced an older model, the DroneBuster IV, on one page, when the actual requirement is for DroneBuster 5 units. The other clarifies that the part number should specify the U.S. 433 MHz frequency variant of the system rather than the European 868 MHz version.