The Sensing Layer America Needs Now

Two urgent national priorities are converging on the same critical timeline. By the end of 2025, Golden Dome must deliver its first homeland defense capabilities. At the same time, the FAA is preparing to award contracts for the next generation of air traffic control.

Both require the same foundation: persistent, high-fidelity sensing that can detect and track everything from hypersonic missiles to RF-silent drones.

Instead of building two duplicative and costly networks, America has the opportunity to invest in a single, unified infrastructure that delivers superior capability to both defense and civil aviation. The technology exists. It has been battle-tested and validated in real operational environments. And it is ready to scale today.

The Threat Landscape Has Changed. Our Defenses Haven’t

Modern adversaries aren't playing by the old rules. They now deploy hypersonic missiles, AI-driven drone swarms, stealth aircraft, and dark drones designed to exploit the blind spots of traditional radar. These threats share one characteristic—they operate in the low-altitude environment where legacy systems fail.

The FAA’s current backbone, 618 radars well beyond their lifecycle, was never designed to manage today’s reality. Meanwhile, Golden Dome requires a surveillance layer capable of spotting the full spectrum of airborne threats.

Both defense and civilian aviation face the same vulnerability: gaps in low-altitude coverage and a lack of shared visibility across agencies.

What Both Golden Dome and FAA Modernization Need

Strip away the mission labels, and both Golden Dome and the FAA's new air traffic control system initiatives share identical requirements:

• Persistent, long-range detection and tracking of all airborne threats—from small drones to stealth aircraft.
• Unmatched situational awareness through real-time data processing and multi-echelon data fusion.
• Nationwide scalability that can grow efficiently to continental coverage.
• Open architecture integration with existing command, control, and air traffic systems.
• A Common Operating Picture that unites military, federal, and local stakeholders with the same actionable intelligence.

Here’s how those shared needs map directly across missions:

Creating two separate systems to meet these identical needs is wasteful. A common sensing layer eliminates duplication, reduces cost, and ensures interoperability from the start.

Proven Where It Counts

Hidden Level’s passive RF sensing isn’t experimental, it’s operationally validated.

• Stewart Air National Guard Base: Fully deployed within 24 hours during a Northeast drone surge, enabling interdiction of a rogue drone operator in just seven minutes.
• National Capital Region: Provided persistent coverage including during the 2024 Presidential Inauguration, delivering a unified airspace picture across federal, state, and local agencies.
• Arlington, TX: Demonstrated effectiveness in a complex urban environment, delivering reliable detection without compromising civilian privacy.
• DoD Validation: Selected for APFIT funding, transitioned into a program of record, and deployed across multiple combatant commands

The Passive Advantage

Hidden Level’s distributed sensor network provides:

• Undetectable surveillance—no emissions to reveal defensive positions.
• All-weather resilience—uninterrupted coverage regardless of conditions.
• Multi-target precision tracking—from dark drones to crewed aircraft at extended ranges.
• Seamless data fusion—creating a unified picture that supports both national defense and civilian aviation.

This is not about adding “more sensors.” It’s about deploying the right foundation once and building every mission on top of it.

One Investment, Maximum Impact

By sharing a common infrastructure:

• Taxpayer savings multiply—a single investment serves multiple critical missions.
• Capabilities strengthen—persistent, long-range detection across the full threat spectrum.
• Collaboration improves—a fused operating picture enables coordinated action across agencies.
• Deployment accelerates—proven, defense-ready systems can be fielded immediately.

The alternative, duplicative, siloed networks, waste resources and delays security while leaving adversaries with exploitable gaps.

The Window Is Narrow—The Opportunity Is Now

The deadlines for Golden Dome and FAA modernization converge in 2025. Funding cycles align in FY26. This is the rare moment where smart investment can transform national airspace security and position America as the global leader.

The choice is clear: build once, build right, and create a persistent sensing layer that safeguards both national defense and civil aviation for decades to come.

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