The Layered Counter-UAS Initiative, known as LCI-X, is one of Allied Command Transformation’s 2026 Beacon Projects. It is designed to help NATO move faster from experimentation to practical capability in one of the most urgent areas of modern defence: countering uncrewed aerial systems.
A fast-moving operational challenge
The rapid evolution of drone warfare has changed the character of the battlespace. Small, inexpensive and increasingly sophisticated uncrewed systems can be used for surveillance, targeting, disruption and attack. For NATO, countering this threat requires both the ability to defeat individual drones and the ability to connect sensors, command-and-control systems and effectors into an integrated, layered defensive approach across national and NATO systems.
Experimentation as a path to capability
LCI-X addresses this challenge through a campaign of recurring, threat-informed experimentation. Rather than treating counter-UAS as a single technology problem, the initiative brings together Allies, NATO commands, industry and innovation actors to test how different systems can work together in realistic operational conditions. The goal is to expose integration challenges early, identify promising solutions, and accelerate the movement from demonstration toward usable capability.
LCI-X is designed to rapidly deliver low cost, adaptable, scalable sensors, effectors, and decision-making tools into a coherent and interoperable layered counter-UAS defence across the Alliance. This is accomplished by creating innovative learning environments that turn real-world, threat-informed lessons learned into delivered innovative interoperable capability at the speed of relevance.
– Allied Command Transformation LCI-X Director
A central feature of LCI-X is its focus on interoperability. Across the Alliance, nations already possess a wide range of counter-UAS systems, sensors, electronic warfare tools, interceptors, command-and-control platforms and supporting capabilities. LCI-X provides a structured environment to understand how those national and commercial systems can be integrated into a more coherent NATO approach. This includes examining how information is shared, how decisions are made, and how defensive actions can be coordinated across a layered network.
The initiative is also shaped by lessons from Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s use of uncrewed systems. Through NATO’s lessons-learned processes, including support from the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre (JATEC), LCI-X uses realistic, threat-informed scenarios to ensure experimentation reflects the pace, complexity and adaptability of current conflict. This helps ensure the work is not limited to controlled demonstrations, but instead tests systems against problems that resemble what NATO forces may face in practice.
Crucible 1-26: Putting the model into practice
LCI-X moved from framework development into practical experimentation through the launch of its Crucible Series. The first event, Crucible 1-26, was hosted by Romania at Capu Midia Training Range as part of Exercise Eastern Phoenix 26 last month. Organized by the Romanian Ministry of National Defence with NATO Allied Command Transformation, it brought together around 500 personnel and roughly 215 technical systems in a structured experimentation environment designed to move promising capability more quickly from demonstration toward operational relevance. Twenty-one Allied nations were represented through national participation, companies, and defence industry delegations.
Crucible 1-26 is the first practical example of the LCI-X model, bringing sensors, effectors, electronic warfare tools and command-and-control systems into a shared experimentation environment. With support from JATEC and Ukrainian experts, the event used current UAS tactics to test how layered counter-UAS capabilities could work together under realistic conditions.
Testing, learning and adapting at speed
Since the initial launch of the LCI-X Beacon Project, ACT has engaged Allied nations to identify available testing ranges and better understand national counter-UAS capabilities. At the same time, ACT has scanned the counter-UAS industry to identify commercially available systems and technical approaches that may contribute to NATO’s layered defence needs. These efforts help build the foundation for a broader experimentation network across the Alliance.
LCI-X events are intended to run in recurring cycles, allowing NATO to test, learn, adapt and retest at speed. Each cycle helps refine the technical, operational and command-and-control questions that must be solved before individual systems can become part of a trusted, interoperable defensive architecture. This repeated learning process is central to the Beacon Project model: moving quickly, accelerating innovation, and focusing on pathways to adoption rather than experimentation for its own sake.
The remainder of the Crucible Series will continue across Europe, with each event building on the last, expanding the scale and integration of counter-UAS experimentation. The rapid learning, innovation, and adaption of each event will inform and shape the future of LCI-X and the Alliance’s C-UAS capabilities.
Supporting deterrence and defence
The initiative also supports NATO’s deterrence and defence posture, particularly along the Eastern Flank. By improving the Alliance’s ability to detect, track, assess and respond to uncrewed threats, LCI-X contributes to readiness, resilience and operational credibility. Its value lies not only in the systems being tested, but in the relationships, procedures and integration pathways being built among nations, NATO commands and industry.
Turning innovation into practical military advantage
As a Beacon Project, LCI-X reflects ACT’s role in helping the Alliance accelerate innovation into practical military advantage. It demonstrates how NATO can bring together operational lessons, national capabilities, industry expertise, and structured experimentation to address a fast-moving security challenge. With Crucible 1-26 establishing an initial baseline for further experimentation in 2026, LCI-X is helping NATO build a credible, interoperable and adaptive layered counter-UAS approach that can keep pace with the threat.