Following the launch of the Adoption Board in September, Allied Command Transformation (ACT) is shaping the framework and ambition for the first of its 2026 Beacon Projects: the Layered Counter UAS Initiative, known as LCI-X. This initiative focuses on strengthening NATO’s ability to counter threats through innovation, collaboration, and experimentation. While LCI-X is still in its early stages, the work underway is already helping to set conditions for more coherent and more rapid capability development across the Alliance. ACT is taking an important early step in operationalizing innovation.
Countering uncrewed threats is now a defining challenge for the Alliance. It is not solved by technology alone, but by integrating sensors, effectors, and decision-making into a coherent, layered defence. That is why experimentation is so essential. Through LCI-X, Allied Command Transformation is bringing nations, commands, and industry into a single learning environment where we test continuously, learn quickly, and fix integration issues early. This is how we will turn lessons from Ukraine into an interoperable command-and-control framework the Alliance can rely on. It will deliver a credible, multi-layered counter-UAS posture across NATO.
– Admiral Pierre Vandier
Supreme Allied Commander Transformation
Building a Campaign of Learning
LCI-X demonstrates Allied Command Transformation’s continued commitment to turning innovation into action through a sustained campaign of learning. In this phase, the command is bringing together NATO’s Allied Land Command, Allied Air Command, the NATO Communications and Information Agency, the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis Training and Education Centre, and the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic in one collaborative network. This marks a new level of unity among NATO’s innovation actors.
LCI-X connects Allies and partners with industry to test, learn, and integrate in a threat– informed environment that strengthens readiness and resilience. This partnership model reflects a deliberate move toward shared learning and collective problem solving. It also highlights Allied Command Transformation’s unique ability to provide an unscripted threat– informed adversary: a realistic “Red Air” component that challenges Allied systems and forces to adapt dynamically. ACT’s threat-informed testing environment lies at the heart of what makes LCI-X distinct.
To capture what this looks like in practice, the LCI-X Integrated Project Team Lead described how the initiative is being driven forward:
“LCI-X is already changing how we work. We are bringing nations, commands, and industry into the same learning space at three-month cycles to turn experimentation into real capability for the Alliance. We never stop adapting; every 90 days we test, learn, and improve. The objective is not only increased readiness and resilience, but a trusted network nations can rely on as the threat evolves.”
Innovation Through Experimentation
The first line of effort within LCI-X, innovation through experimentation, centres on creating data-driven environments that mirror the complexity of modern warfare. NATO and its nations are drawing lessons from Ukraine’s defence against Russian uncrewed systems, developing realistic trials in which Allied and national solutions are tested together. These efforts are not scripted demonstrations. They are designed to expose weaknesses, accelerate integration, and identify solutions that can be adopted quickly.
Interoperability Through Learning
The second line of effort, interoperability through learning, focuses on the command and control dimension. Allied Command Transformation is leveraging its integration and testing experience to ensure that NATO and National solutions are cohesive and compatible. Even at this early stage, LCI-X is clarifying the pathways through which national solutions can merge into a seamless, layered defensive network across the Eastern Flank. The emphasis on interoperability goes beyond technology by building habits of cooperation that will endure through future projects.
The Road Ahead
LCI-X is designed to deliver:
- A process of continuous learning cycles every three months, ensuring constant adaptation
- A foundation for experimentation, interoperability, and development that directly supports readiness and resilience
- The creation of a trusted innovation network across Allies, industry, and the NATO Command Structure
LCI-X represents the beginning of a new approach to delivering capability across the Alliance, one that values shared learning as much as technological breakthrough. It shows that innovation is not an event but a habit, built through repeated testing, integration, and collaboration.
As the first 2026 Beacon Project advances, Allied Command Transformation is shaping the culture and mechanisms that will define NATO’s future approach to innovation. These early months matter. They are where trust is built, networks are forged, and the path to adoption begins.