The Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems Grant Program is the federal government's dedicated funding stream for state, local, Tribal, and territorial (SLTT) drone detection capability. Established under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, it provides $500 million across two fiscal years to help SLTT agencies detect, identify, track, and monitor unmanned aircraft. Half of that money is already awarded. The other half is the reason agencies should be preparing right now.
The FY 2026 round moved with unusual speed and unusual focus: $250 million went to the jurisdictions hosting FIFA World Cup and America 250 events. The FY 2027 round opens to every state and territory in the country, and it is the round most agencies will actually compete in. This guide covers how the program is structured, who can apply and how, what the money buys and what it cannot, what FEMA measures applicants against, the procurement rules that come with the money, and what an agency should have in place before the next notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) publishes. We build drone detection systems for agencies navigating this process, and the pattern is consistent: the agencies that win are the ones that prepared before the window opened.
What the C-UAS Grant Program Funds
The program was created under Public Law 119-21, Section 90005(a), to enhance SLTT capabilities to detect, identify, track, or monitor unmanned aircraft systems as defined in 49 U.S.C. 44801, consistent with Titles 18 and 49. Its priorities are shaped by Executive Order 14305, Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty, and by recommendations from the White House FIFA World Cup Task Force.
Read the statutory language carefully, because the verbs matter: detect, identify, track, monitor. The authorizing language is built around detection. Mitigation funding exists, but it is narrow: in FY 2026 it was available only to law enforcement and correctional agencies with personnel trained, or scheduled for training, at the FBI's National Counter-UAS Training Center (NCUTC), operating under the direction of a federal agency with the authority to act. Mitigation authority itself is limited to federal departments and to state and local agencies certified under the SAFER SKIES framework, which our guide to drone mitigation and authorization covers in detail. For the overwhelming majority of applicants, this grant funds the detection technology layer: RF sensors, radar, cameras, and the command-and-control software that fuses them.
Two funding details matter more than any other. First, the NOFO states plainly that there is no cost share requirement: no local match, no matching funds to identify in a budget request, no council vote to authorize a contribution. Eligible costs are federally funded in full. Second, the program draws a hard line on what the money cannot buy: per FEMA Information Bulletin No. 530, weapons and weapons accessories, including ammunition, are unallowable costs. Indirect costs are also disallowed. This is airspace awareness funding, not armament funding, and the allowable-cost structure reflects that consistently.
What Else the Money Cannot Buy
Weapons are the obvious exclusion. Four others catch agencies that have not read the notice closely:
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Certain foreign equipment. Under 2 CFR 200.216, federal grant funds cannot be used for certain telecommunications and video surveillance equipment or services from Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision, or Dahua, including their subsidiaries and affiliates. Cameras are central to most detection systems, so ask every vendor to confirm in writing that no component falls under the prohibition.
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Replacing existing budgets. Grant funds must supplement, not supplant, money already appropriated for the same purpose, and an agency can be asked to document why its own funding fell if it did.
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Support for equipment the grant did not buy. Maintenance and sustainment were allowable for grant-funded systems, but general maintenance, service contracts, and warranties for other equipment were not, and neither were general-use items or organizational operating expenses.
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Experiments. Proof-of-concept initiatives, technology development studies, and capabilities that duplicate what the federal government already provides were all unallowable.
Recurring costs deserve a direct question to your state. The FY 2026 notice listed services, subscriptions, and operations and maintenance among allowable activities for grant-funded systems, while its unallowable list included licensing fees and recurring operating costs alongside general-use items. Costs must also be incurred, and services delivered, within the award's budget period under 2 CFR 200.403, so a multi-year subscription that runs past that period needs a plan for the later years.
The Two-Phase Structure: What Happened and What Is Coming
FY 2026: $250 million, already awarded. Funding was prioritized for jurisdictions hosting National Special Security Events or SEAR 1 and 2 events. FEMA published the notice of funding opportunity in late October 2025, applications closed in early December, and on December 30 FEMA awarded the full $250 million to the 11 World Cup host states and the National Capital Region, which DHS described as the fastest non-disaster grant program FEMA has ever executed, with funds awarded 25 days after the application deadline. That speed is itself the lesson: this program does not linger.
FY 2027: $250 million, open to everyone. The remaining $250 million, plus any unallocated FY 2026 funds, goes to all 56 states and territories to build nationwide detection and response capability. Every State Administrative Agency, including the 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, will be eligible to apply. Funding will be awarded competitively based on proposed projects and security needs, and FEMA notes that the funding structure may differ from FY 2026. As of October 2026, FEMA has not published the FY 2027 notice, so treat every FY 2026 term in this guide as preparation, not as a promise. If your agency is not in a World Cup host state, this is your round.
Who Can Apply: The SAA Bottleneck
This is the structural detail that catches most agencies off guard. Only State Administrative Agencies may submit applications to FEMA, including applications on behalf of subapplicants. A sheriff's office, a city police department, a corrections agency, or an airport authority cannot apply directly to FEMA. They apply through their state's SAA as a subapplicant.
Eligible subapplicants include local, Tribal, and territorial government entities: law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical services, emergency management, and other qualifying public safety organizations. Practically, this means the real deadline for a local agency is not FEMA's federal deadline. It is the state's internal deadline, which falls earlier: in New Jersey's FY 2026 round, the state's application period closed November 21, 2025, roughly two weeks before FEMA's. The relationship that matters most is the one with your state homeland security or emergency management grant office, and FEMA has assigned a Preparedness Officer to each state for this program. Agencies that introduce themselves to their SAA after the NOFO publishes are already late.
The rule that protects local agencies: 97 percent pass-through. The program does not let states hoard the money. SAAs are required to pass through at least 97 percent of C-UAS funding to local or tribal units of government, and must make those funds available within 45 calendar days of receiving them. States may retain up to 3 percent for management and administration, with one narrow exception allowing a state to keep up to 20 percent, with justification, for equipment or activities benefiting state law enforcement or statewide needs. Subrecipients may likewise use up to 3 percent of their own funds for management and administration. For a sheriff's office or a corrections agency, this is the most important structural fact in the program: the money is legally obligated to flow down to you, which makes the conversation with your SAA a question of which local projects get funded, not whether local projects get funded.
What FEMA Measures: The Performance Targets Behind the Application
The FY 2026 notice of funding opportunity published performance measures that tell applicants exactly what the program considers success, and they are unusually specific. Among them: successfully identifying and classifying 90 percent of detected UAS threats, distinguishing commercial, recreational, and potentially malicious aircraft, and launching criminal investigations on 100 percent of identified violations where operators endanger the public or violate airspace restrictions. Its short-term targets also put roughly 80 percent of funds toward equipment and services and 20 percent toward training personnel in the operation of C-UAS technology.
Those measures should shape procurement decisions directly. A 90 percent classification target is a capability requirement, not an aspiration: it argues for multi-sensor fusion rather than a single sensor, because classification confidence comes from corroboration between RF identification and radar tracking. The criminal-investigation measure argues for evidentiary recording, exportable flight histories, and operator localization, since an investigation needs a defensible record. And the training allocation is a reminder that FEMA expects funded systems to be operated competently, not just installed. Our guide to how a drone detection system works covers the architecture that supports each of these.
The measures continue after the award. FY 2026 recipients reported, for each system: the make, model, and configuration of every sensor; hours in active use; cumulative detections; distinct drones identified, with repeat detections counted once; criminal investigations launched from system intelligence; and all associated costs, including installation, training, and maintenance agreements. Recipients also certified that grant-funded equipment is actively deployed for its intended purpose, and equipment not in regular use, or used for unauthorized purposes, could be recalled, with grant funds returned. A system that cannot produce those numbers on demand turns every progress report into a manual exercise.
One certification deserves a careful read before any contract is signed. FY 2026 applicants agreed to enter into a vendor contract that enables efficient and reasonable data sharing with federal counter-drone operating entities, through mechanisms such as file transfer, limited viewer access, or shared cloud access, within the limits of their own records-retention rules and applicable law. The vendor contract has to permit what the agency certifies.
The program also ties into the federal counter-drone training framework, but only for mitigation. In FY 2026, agencies requesting mitigation technology had to have personnel trained, or scheduled for training, at the NCUTC and include proof of registration with their application, and FEMA verified that registration with the FBI. Detection, tracking, and identification equipment carried no such requirement, and training on it could be vendor-based. The practical reading: an agency requesting mitigation capability should pursue certification under the SAFER SKIES framework on the same timeline as its application, and an agency requesting detection should plan for the usage reporting that follows the award.
Is Drone Detection Legal for a Local Agency?
FEMA answered this in the FY 2026 notice itself. In its legal analysis, any entity may lawfully detect, track, and identify a drone when the activity is limited to observable information and communications readily accessible to the public. FEMA concluded that radar, cameras, acoustic sensors, passive RF detection, and Remote ID reception do not implicate the federal Wiretap Act or the pen register and trap and trace statute, and that a drone's control and non-payload communications fall outside wiretap restrictions.
Capturing payload content, such as a drone's video feed, is a different matter. Technology that relies on the new federal authority is governed by the DOJ and DHS rule that took effect July 1, 2026, which requires certification through the NCUTC: online for detection and warning, in person for mitigation. Have counsel confirm where any system sits before it goes into an application.
How Applications Are Evaluated
FEMA reviews applications for completeness, adherence to programmatic guidelines, feasibility, and how well the project description and justification address the identified criteria. Three of those four are within an applicant's control long before a NOFO drops.
The FY 2026 merit review used a technology effectiveness checklist, and its point values are revealing. Supporting a World Cup or America 250 event designated NSSE, SEAR 1, or SEAR 2 was worth 50 points. Including mitigation was worth 30. Every other criterion was worth one or two points each, together about 20: radar; electro-optical and infrared cameras; passive RF that reads physical waveforms only, not content, and names its direction-finding method (TDOA, FDOA, POA, or AOA); Remote ID receivers compliant with ASTM F3411-22a; a clear detect, track, and identify chain; a deployment and connectivity plan; lawful data sharing with federal counter-drone entities; a role-based training plan; a new capability rather than an enhancement; and full implementation within six months of award rather than twelve.
The event points will not apply the same way in a nationwide round, and FEMA has not published FY 2027 scoring. But if FY 2027 keeps a similar checklist, agencies eligible for mitigation funding, meaning law enforcement and correctional agencies on the certification path, would hold a large advantage. That is a reason to start certification planning now, not a prediction of FY 2027 weights. The technical criteria also double as a drafting guide: an application that names its sensors, its direction-finding method, its Remote ID standard, and a six-month implementation plan is writing to the rubric.
Justification is where most applications are won or lost, and it is an evidence exercise. An agency that can document actual drone activity, incursion counts, timing patterns, locations, repeat aircraft, is describing a demonstrated threat. An agency describing a general concern about drones is describing a hypothesis. This is the same dynamic driving the FAA's new petition process for drone flight restrictions over critical infrastructure, which also asks applicants to demonstrate specific vulnerability. Agencies already running continuous drone monitoring enter both processes with a data file. Agencies that are not, enter with anecdotes.
The Procurement Rules That Can Put an Award at Risk
Winning the award is half the job. Local agencies that receive these funds through their state must follow the federal procurement standards in 2 CFR 200.318 through 200.327; states and tribes may use their own procedures. Three rules deserve particular attention in a counter-drone purchase:
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Full and open competition. Purchases must be competed unless a narrow exception applies, and the rule lists a specification that names one brand, without allowing an equal product, as a restriction on competition.
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The vendor exclusion rule. Under 2 CFR 200.319(b), a contractor that develops or drafts the specifications, requirements, statement of work, or invitation for bids must be excluded from competing on that procurement. The FY 2026 notice also cautioned that additional federal requirements may apply when an outside consultant or contractor is used for grant writing. A vendor that offers to write your application or your technical requirements may be offering to disqualify itself, and may be putting your award at risk.
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The paper trail. Keep the procurement history: how the requirement was defined, how vendors were solicited, and how the award was decided. It is requested after the money is spent, which is when it is hardest to reconstruct.
What Agencies Should Do Before the Next NOFO
Five actions that position an agency for the FY 2027 round:
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Contact your State Administrative Agency now. Identify the office, the grant manager, the FEMA Preparedness Officer assigned to your state, and the state's internal timeline. Ask to be on the distribution list for the next C-UAS notice. This single step separates prepared applicants from surprised ones.
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Build the threat documentation. Incursion logs, dates, times, locations, and any recorded flight paths. If you have no detection capability yet, even manual incident logs from officers and staff establish a baseline.
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Define the capability gap in writing. What assets are exposed, what you currently cannot see, and what specific capability closes the gap. This becomes the project description.
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Scope the system against the performance measures, in-house. Classification confidence, evidentiary recording, usage reporting, and operator training are what FEMA measures, so specify a fused multi-sensor system with reporting, not a single sensor. Write those requirements yourself, using vendor demonstrations and market research to learn what exists.
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Get a site assessment. Terrain, structures, and local RF conditions determine real coverage and therefore real cost, and a defensible figure is exactly what feasibility review looks for. If a vendor performs the assessment, treat it as market research and keep the specifications your own.
Who This Funding Reaches
The eligible-subapplicant list maps closely to the facilities facing the most drone pressure. Correctional facilities face contraband delivery as a daily operational problem, and state corrections agencies fall within SLTT eligibility. Airports and the public safety agencies protecting them face the incursion risk that shuts runways. Critical infrastructure operated by public entities, along with the law enforcement agencies responsible for events and venues, sit squarely in the program's intent.
Private-sector facilities are not eligible subapplicants, which is worth stating plainly. A privately owned refinery or stadium funds its own detection. What the program changes for them is the environment: as surrounding law enforcement agencies build funded detection and pursue SAFER SKIES certification, the agencies a private facility calls during an incident arrive with more capability than they had a year ago, which makes a private facility's own detection and documentation program considerably more useful.
The Money Moves Faster Than the Paperwork
The defining fact about this program is its pace. FEMA published a NOFO in late October, closed applications in about five weeks, and awarded a quarter of a billion dollars 25 days later. Agencies that were not already organized, already in contact with their SAA, and already able to describe their threat picture did not have time to become organized once the window opened.
We believe the agencies that will win FY 2027 funding are doing unglamorous work right now: talking to their state grant office, logging drone sightings, and writing down exactly what they cannot currently see over their facilities. The system specification is the easy part and comes last. The evidence and the relationship come first, and neither can be assembled in five weeks. And the agencies that keep their funding will be the ones whose purchases hold up through the usage reporting and review that follow.
Preparing for the FY 2027 round? Talk to our team about a demonstration of how detection data supports the program's reporting measures. To keep your procurement competitive under federal rules, we do not draft grant applications or system specifications.
This guide is general information about a federal grant program and federal procurement rules as of October 2026. It is not legal, procurement, or grant advice. Program terms are set by each year's funding notice and award agreement; confirm requirements with your State Administrative Agency and legal counsel. AirSight is not affiliated with or endorsed by FEMA or the Department of Homeland Security.
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