Under the counter-drone Bill introduced on 27 October 2026, a Defence security official will not be allowed to act against a drone until they meet training and qualification requirements set by the Secretary of Defence. Those requirements have not been set yet, and the drone incursions at Defence bases that prompted the Bill are already happening.
The Defence Legislation Amendment (Accelerating Capability and Protecting Bases) Bill 2026 amends the Defence Act 1903. It would let authorised officials identify, locate, detect, monitor and track drones near Defence sites, and in defined circumstances interfere with, seize, disable or destroy them. The Bill passed the House of Representatives on 29 October and is under review by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Defence. None of its powers take effect until Parliament completes that process.
Base security personnel will need training before the new authority is usable
Each measure the Bill authorises is a skill a person has to perform under time pressure. A security team has to find a small drone against sky and ground clutter, decide whether it is a hobby aircraft, a surveillance platform or an armed first-person-view (FPV) drone, and hold a track on it. If action is justified, they have to engage it without endangering people or property nearby.
The Bill makes training a legal precondition. Under proposed section 72NJ(5), a defence security official must not take any counter-drone measure unless they meet training and qualification requirements that the Secretary of Defence sets by legislative instrument. Police acting under the same section need training and qualifications appropriate to the measure. Every measure must also be reasonably necessary for defence security or aviation safety, and none may endanger a crewed aircraft.
Live training for this is hard to run at scale. Flying hostile drone profiles near a base needs airspace approval and range time. Electronic counter-measures such as jamming are restricted under spectrum rules, so teams cannot practise them freely outside approved ranges.
Other countries passing similar laws have tied the new powers to training. The UK Armed Forces Bill includes provisions for counter-drone testing and training, and a US Senate proposal would require training and certification before personnel use counter-UAS powers.
OP-2 Interceptor trains each step the Bill authorises
OP-2 Interceptor is Operator XR's counter-small UAS training system, built on the OP-2 portable virtual reality platform. It trains the full detect, identify, track and defeat cycle against a configurable library of drone threats.
| Measure in proposed section 72NI | What personnel practice in OP-2 Interceptor |
|---|---|
| Identifying the drone | Telling armed FPV drones apart from surveillance and reconnaissance drones |
| Locating, detecting, monitoring or tracking the drone | Finding and holding drones across configurable threat types, flight behaviours and attack patterns |
| Interfering with the drone's communications signals or data links | Non-kinetic defeat training with in service equipment |
| Disabling, damaging or destroying the drone | Kinetic engagement with shotgun and AR-platform rifle drop-in weapons |
Interceptor's reporting supports formal C-sUAS training certification. That gives a unit a training record to measure against the Secretary's requirements once they are set.
The system runs fully offline and needs no fixed facility. A two-user kit weighs 23 kg and sets up in under two minutes, so a security team can train on its own site.
The U.S. Marine Corps placed the first order for OP-2 Interceptor in October 2026. The OP-2 platform it runs on is already in use with the Australian Defence Force.
Defence units can start counter-drone training while the Bill is before Parliament
The Bill still has to pass the Senate, but the drone incursions that prompted it are already happening. Training personnel now means the new authority can be used safely from the day it takes effect.
Operator XR is an Australian company that builds training systems for military and law enforcement agencies. Defence units and base security teams can request an OP-2 Interceptor demonstration at operatorxr.com.