Counter-Drone Meets PIDS: The Convergence Reshaping Perimeter Security

In February 2026, Picogrid won a $9.3 million SBIR Phase III contract from the US Air Force for AI-enabled software that integrates disparate counter-drone and defensive systems at military bases. The contract — and the technology it funds — illustrates a convergence that has been building throughout 2025: traditional perimeter intrusion detection and counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) are merging into a single discipline.

For PIDS buyers and specifiers, this convergence has practical implications for system architecture, vendor selection, and procurement strategy.

Why the Convergence Is Happening

Perimeter security has historically focused on ground-level threats: people climbing fences, cutting barriers, or driving vehicles through gates. Counter-drone technology developed as a separate discipline, driven by military requirements and then by commercial concerns about surveillance, smuggling (particularly at prisons), and critical infrastructure disruption.

The convergence is driven by three factors.

Shared sensor modalities. The sensors used for perimeter detection — radar, thermal cameras, LiDAR — are the same sensors used for drone detection. A Navtech radar tracking a person walking along a fence line and a radar tracking a drone approaching a facility are performing fundamentally similar target detection and tracking tasks. Multi-use sensors that serve both functions reduce total system cost and sensor clutter.

Shared command and control. A security operations centre monitoring perimeter intrusion alerts and a separate team monitoring airspace creates operational silos, duplicated infrastructure, and coordination gaps. Unified platforms that correlate ground and air threats provide a single operational picture.

Regulatory and threat convergence. Drone incursions at airports, prisons, military bases, and critical infrastructure have moved from nuisance to security threat. Perimeter security specifications at CPNI-regulated sites in the UK, DoD installations, and major airports increasingly require airborne detection as a component of the perimeter system, not a separate procurement.

What Picogrid's Contract Signals

Picogrid's software acts as an AI-enabled translator between sensors from different vendors — radar from one manufacturer, cameras from another, effectors from a third. The company demonstrated this capability with the 1st Cavalry Division, integrating five different sensor systems into a unified detection and response chain.

The significance for the PIDS market: integration software that unifies multi-vendor, multi-domain (ground + air) sensor networks is becoming as important as the sensors themselves. Vendors selling standalone perimeter sensors without an integration pathway to airspace monitoring face a shrinking addressable market at high-security sites.

What This Means for PIDS Specification

For security consultants and procurement teams specifying perimeter systems in 2026:

Evaluate radar for dual-use. Ground surveillance radar from vendors like Navtech, Axis, and Magos can detect both ground targets and low-flying drones. Specifying dual-use radar from the outset avoids the cost of a separate airspace surveillance layer later.

Require open integration. Perimeter sensors that operate in closed ecosystems — proprietary protocols, locked APIs, single-vendor-only management platforms — will struggle to participate in converged ground-air security architectures. Open API support and standard protocol compatibility (ONVIF, MQTT, REST) should be specification requirements.

Plan for the sensor-to-effector chain. Detection is necessary but not sufficient. Once a drone is detected, the response chain — classification, tracking, identification, and potential neutralisation — requires additional capabilities (RF detection, visual identification, electronic countermeasures) that must integrate with the perimeter detection platform. System architecture should accommodate this chain from the design phase.

The convergence of PIDS and C-UAS is not theoretical. It is being funded at military scale, demonstrated in operational environments, and shaping procurement requirements at the sites where perimeter security matters most.