Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana serves as headquarters for the Air Force’s Global Strike Command, in charge of our nuclear bomber fleet of B-2 Spirits and B-52 BUFFs. Barksdale doesn’t make the news very often — thank goodness — but there were a few blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reports last week about multiple drone infestations from parts unknown.
Do not blink. Do not miss this one. It’s important.
“In the early hours of Operation Epic Fury last month, a deployed [flyaway kit of counter-UAS technologies] successfully detected and defeated sUAS [drones] operating over a strategic U.S. installation,” NORTHCOM chief Gen. Gregory M. Guillot reported to Congress last week.
But 10 days later on March 9, Barksdale implemented a “shelter-in-place” order after another drone incursion, 2nd Bomb Wing spokesman Capt. Hunter Rininger confirmed last week that “multiple unauthorized incursions” have happened since.
“Between March 9-15, 2026, BAFB Security Forces observed multiple waves of 12-15 drones operating over sensitive areas of the installation, including the flight line, with aircraft displaying non-commercial signal characteristics, long-range control links and resistance to jamming,” a confidential briefing obtained by ABC News said. “After reaching multiple points across the installation, the drones dispersed across sensitive locations on the base.”
The same briefing claimed that the drones were far more sophisticated than anything consumers can buy off the shelf.
None of the reports I’ve found explained — or even asked — whether the counter-drone measures that supposedly worked on Feb. 28 were effective or even deployed during the follow-on waves in March.
According to ABC News, later incursions “lasted around four hours each day and the drones used varied routes of ingress and deliberate maneuvering within restricted airspace,” and Barksdale had to suspend operations against Iran. It’s safe to assume that Barksdale’s defenses in some way failed.
Never before has an Air Force base in the continental U.S. been forced to shut down due to enemy air activity, according to Asia Times writer Stephen Bryen. That’s newsworthy in itself. That it happened at Barksdale makes it concerning. A shutdown during wartime operations that grounded multiple B-52s is beyond concerning.
“Barksdale AFB does not have air defenses, nor does it have fighter jets that can take down drones,” Bryen added, which seems like unpreparedness bordering on hubris, particularly after witnessing years of long-range drone attacks by Ukraine on air bases deep inside Russia.
Remember this report from January? CCP Intel Official Owns Golf Clubs Flanking US Nuclear Missile Nerve Center.
Here’s why this matters, beyond the part where somebody flew drone waves over a nuclear weapons facility.
Our nuclear triad consists of three elements. We have 400 land-based Minuteman III ICBMs in hardened silos across parts of the West. Then there are our 12 nuclear-missile subs that “hide with pride” in the oceans. We also have a total of about 95 nuclear-capable B-52s and B-2s.
Of those, the Air Force bombers — as damnably few as we have — are for obvious reasons the most flexible part of the triad.
They’re also shockingly vulnerable to cheap drones, as some unknown actor with state-level capability demonstrated during wartime and on American soil.
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