Retired Air Force Gen. Glen D. VanHerck warned on July 30 that Shahed drones and other small UAV attacks could reach Air Force bases inside the U.S. He said the same type of strike Ukraine used against Russia could happen at home, and he tied that risk to the need for citizens, law enforcement, federal agencies, and the military to spot warning signs fast.
“All of that could occur right here, right here in the United States of America,” VanHerck said during a virtual event at AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. He added, “We’re not there from a policy and organization standpoint yet, and most people don’t think about or understand that threat is here today and could present itself right away within our homeland.”
July 30 warning from VanHerck
VanHerck, the former head of U.S. Northern Command and NORAD, said the threat is not theoretical. He described a drone attack developed in the central part of the country and projected toward critical infrastructure or locations as a problem that would force local citizens, local law enforcement, state law enforcement agencies, federal agencies, and potentially military personnel to piece together the full picture with the intelligence community.
That warning came after a June 1, 2025 attack in which Ukrainian forces launched 117 quadcopters loaded with explosives at strategic Russian bomber bases. The strike destroyed roughly 40 bombers and early warning aircraft, and VanHerck said it showed how the same tactic could be used against U.S. air bases.
Mitchell’s broader base defense plan
Houston Cantwell, a retired Air Force Brig. Gen. and senior fellow at Mitchell, argued that the Air Force should go beyond point defense. In his Mitchell policy paper, Cantwell said the service needs a comprehensive strategy to defeat an adversary’s ability to launch effective drone attacks on air bases.
That strategy, Cantwell wrote, should include an expanded array of airborne early-warning sensors, an offensive strike plan against enemy drone manufacturing capabilities, and a new multilevel protective posture so base personnel can adapt to changing drone threat levels. He said Operation Spiderweb caused roughly $7 billion in damage to Russian defense infrastructure and described the operation as “out of a Jason Bourne movie.”
Langley Air Force Base and later incursions
The concern inside the Air Force is sharpened by what has already happened. The service first saw drones infiltrate secure perimeters in late December 2023, when unidentified drones flew for days over Langley Air Force Base, Va. More drone incursions followed at bases in Ohio, Utah, and the United Kingdom.
That sequence leaves a practical problem for U.S. base commanders: warning signs may appear far from the fence line, and the response may depend on layers of detection and reporting rather than a single shield around the installation. VanHerck’s warning points to the next decision that matters most, whether the Air Force moves beyond point defense and builds the broader approach Cantwell described.
For base personnel and nearby communities, the immediate issue is not abstract doctrine. It is whether the country can recognize a small drone campaign early enough to stop it before it reaches a runway, a fuel site, or another critical target on U.S. soil.
