U.S. Army Brig. Gen. William Parker, commanding general of the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, speaks to multinational participants during the Multilateral Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) Symposium at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, June 23, 2025. The symposium brought together Indo-Pacific allies and partners as it enhanced collaboration and coordination in short-range air defense operations.

Multinational senior military leaders from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and the Netherlands pose for a group photo during the Multilateral Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) Symposium at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, June 23, 2025. The Pacific Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center (PIC) hosted the symposium and brought together Indo-Pacific and allied partners as they enhanced collaboration on short-range air defense capabilities.

HONOLULU — The Pacific Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center, PIC, hosted and facilitated its first multilateral Short Range Air Defense Symposium at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii, June 23-26, 2025.

This PIC initiative provided an opportunity to explore concerns about gaps in capabilities and responsibilities. Possible solutions and suggested actions were also offered to help mitigate challenges in relation to the emerging small unmanned airborne system threat, which is one of the main growing concerns for U.S. allies and partners throughout the region.

The symposium established a framework on collective ways to detect, track and counter the threat with the intent of synergizing efforts among U.S. joint services, allies and partners.

Collaboration for this event involved groups such as the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Army’s Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command and 1st Multidomain Task Force.

Multinational senior military leaders from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and the Netherlands pose for a group photo during the Multilateral Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) Symposium at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, June 23, 2025. The Pacific Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center (PIC) hosted the symposium and brought together Indo-Pacific and allied partners as they enhanced collaboration on short-range air defense capabilities.

Multinational service members engage in tabletop discussions during the Multilateral Short Range Air Defense SHORAD Symposium at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, June 26, 2025. The Pacific Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center (PIC) hosted the symposium and brought together Indo-Pacific and allied partners as they enhanced collaboration on short-range air defense capabilities.

Also involved were the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command’s Directorate of Air and Space Operations, Pacific Air Forces' Directorates of Operations and Logistics, the U.S. Marine Corps’ 3rd Littoral Anti-Air Battalion and the U.S. Navy’s Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, including the guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur and the cruiser USS Shiloh.

The FAA, along with the above U.S. services, identified current resources that each employ to counter threats, as well as specific installation force protections and limitations on policy.

The attending nations were Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Netherlands, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand, along with multiple nations dialed in virtually.

“The pace is outmatching our ability to keep up,” Brig. Gen. William Parker, commanding general of the 94th AAAMDC, said. “The U.S. is looking to layer counter-UAS at echelon. We don’t fight as systems; we fight in formations.”

“Group 1 & 2 are everyone’s fight,” Parker added.

Multinational service members participate in a roundtable discussion during the Multilateral Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) Symposium at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, June 24, 2025. The Pacific Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center (PIC) hosted the symposium and brought together Indo-Pacific and allied partners as they enhanced collaboration on short-range air defense capabilities.

Multinational service members attend a briefing during the Multilateral Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD) Symposium at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, June 23, 2025. The Pacific Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center (PIC) hosted the symposium and brought together Indo-Pacific and allied partners as they enhanced collaboration on short-range air defense capabilities.

Highlights of the event included two roundtable forums designed to encourage discussions and the sharing of conceptual ideas. The first centered on the differences between defending installations in populated areas versus tactical locations, which are often remote and require different tactics, techniques and procedures.

The second roundtable created conversations about threat mitigation and countermeasures between military and civil authorities, exploring the capabilities to disrupt, disable, destroy, take control of, and/or provide alternate flight instructions to a UAS within the different classes of controlled airspace.

“The enemy is outpacing us, and we are now playing catch-up in a chess game,” said Carlos Betancourt, the PIC’s senior integrated air and missile defense analyst, as he moderated the roundtable discussions. “We need to think outside the box and be able to have our leaders understand this threat. The important thing is for all of us, to include the civil organizations to collaborate, coordinate, codify, exercise and assess.”

Concluding the overall event, attendees participated in tabletop experiments while exploring capabilities, roles, challenges, and future engagements that may be necessary to support future multinational contingencies. Utilizing a fictional scenario and notional capabilities, participants also held discussions including the passive and asymmetric employment of defensive non-kinetic options.