The greatest drama surrounding the January 11, 2025 playoff game between the National Football League’s Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers was one the NFL could have done without.
With Baltimore leading 28-7 in the third quarter, the game was briefly stopped, and its broadcast thrown to commercial, when an unauthorized drone was detected over Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium.
The venue was under a temporary flight restriction (TFR) – a standard precaution implemented by the FAA during major events like NFL playoff games. This prohibited the operation of drones and certain aircraft within a three-nautical-mile radius of the stadium during the event. Following the breach, state police and the FBI linked the drone back to a Baltimore man, Alexis Suarez, who was criminally charged. He ultimately pleaded guilty to illegally flying the drone into restricted airspace and received a year of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $500 fine.
At M&T Bank Stadium, it was the third such incident in two years. In 2023, the NFL – one sporting league of thousands across the world – experienced more than 2,800 unauthorized drone threats and incidents during its games.
The most-watched sporting event in the world
While Suarez was apparently just taking pictures, you can imagine the anxiety such intrusions cause the authorities charged with ensuring the safety of major events. Recent headlines from Russia, Ukraine and more recently the Middle East underscore that drones are capable of lethal attacks. That’s never happened at a sporting event, but given today’s risk of terrorism must be considered a viable threat.
Addressing that risk is thus a top priority for local officials, their federal partners and the stakeholders of large gatherings. At U.S. matches during this summer’s FIFA World Cup 2026, the advanced integrated network they’ll use to defend airspace security is built around key technologies from Axon.
The biggest components of that network are drone detection and DFR (Drone as First Responder) capabilities. Axon has established relationships with police departments in each of the 11 U.S. host cities, who will operate and coordinate these defenses at and around games in conjunction with the event’s lead federal agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
Held every four years by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the World Cup is the global championship tournament for men’s national soccer teams. It’s the most-watched sporting event in the world, with the championship typically drawing more than a billion viewers. Forty-eight teams advance through regional competitions to the final tournament, which this year will be held in the U.S., Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
The U.S. portion of the event will include 78 matches across those 11 cities: Atlanta; Boston; Dallas; East Rutherford, New Jersey; Houston; Kansas City, Missouri; Los Angeles; Miami; Philadelphia; Santa Clara, California; and Seattle. These will culminate in the championship match on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, which is expected to draw more than 82,000 fans.
Given the sport’s popularity and games’ significance, a lot of eyes and attention will be on these contests. Protecting them from above encompasses several levels.
Early warning system detects incursions
The integrated approach combines Axon’s Dedrone counter-UAS solution for detection with Skydio’s autonomous X10 platform for rapid aerial response and situational awareness to respond to and clear threats around stadiums and in surrounding areas.
Detection is the first step in any drone defense strategy. Dedrone recognizes and alerts authorities to unauthorized drones intruding into protected areas. The system employs both fixed site and mobile monitoring to detect drones using a multisensor approach. Its primary detection method is radio frequency monitoring, but it also employs radar, cameras and AI software.
Most commercial drones communicate with remote controllers using RF signals. Dedrone sensors listen for them. They can detect control signals between the drone and pilot, video downlink transmissions and telemetry communications, then identify the model and manufacturer via a library of known protocols. RF sensors also determine the signal’s direction and in many cases an operator location.
When an intrusion occurs, DFR forms the core of the response, and integrated workflows can initiate an X10 activation to enable rapid aerial assessment. These can also be used to clear calls and threats on the ground at and around the stadium identified by fixed cameras, LPR and other means.
“We’re working alongside federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as venue security partners, to help protect World Cup sites from unauthorized drone activity,” said Dylan Brown, senior product manager for site security at Skydio, which partners with Axon to provide the drones. “Often, the most effective response is quickly locating the operator so officers can safely intervene. Drones enable that by providing rapid situational awareness, helping identify the pilot’s location and directing officers to the right place on the ground.”
Radar detects physical objects in the air, which can include drones without RF signals. PTZ cameras can zero in, and all data feeds into the DedroneTracker software platform. This integrates and analyzes imagery, behavior and flight data and provides a risk score for the intruding craft.
This is all driven by advanced algorithms and proprietary machine learning methods that include behavioral modeling, neural networking and AI training on more than 18 million images. These measures have combined, Axon says, to virtually eliminate false positives.
Drones power flexible response
When a drone is detected, authorities will have several possible courses of action. With a sufficiently low risk profile, one is simply monitoring it. Most intruding craft are just civilian operators straying where they shouldn’t.
If a response is required, authorities can deploy X10 drones from Skydio. Dedrone alerts appear in the Skydio DFR Command interface used to launch docked drones, and the X10 autonomously flies to the location of the alert.
The X10’s onboard autonomy enables safe navigation in complex environments, reducing pilot workload and supporting rapid deployments. 5G cellular connectivity supports remote operation at extended ranges, and it integrates with other components of the Axon ecosystem such as Dedrone, Axon Evidence and Axon Fusus real-time crime centers.
Drones can visually confirm an intrusion and stream video of it back to command. With identification of the controller’s signal, officers can head quickly to the operator’s location – the preferred course of action. The other end of the spectrum, at least theoretically, could entail kinetic intercepts, though that’s largely limited to military use and not part of Axon’s World Cup package.
There are some intriguing mitigation measures in between, but they are not, at the moment, generally available to local police. Newer technologies such as Axon’s DedroneDefender 2 can let operators jam the RF control signals of intruding craft, stopping their operation. That’s currently restricted to federal use, but two key pieces of legislation may change that.
Part of the FY26 National Defense Authorization Act passed in December 2025, the SAFER SKIES Act extends counterdrone authority to trained state, local and tribal officers, including the mitigation of threats around public events. However, even with the act’s passage, federal implementation rules must be written and officers trained, which is unlikely to occur before the World Cup.
A short-term bridge could be the Counter Drone State and Local Defender Act, introduced in February and referred to House committees. This would create a temporary pilot program, expedited for World Cup host cities, allowing local agencies to disable threatening drones.
Security extends beyond the stadium
There’s more to ensuring airspace safety around the World Cup experience than just the actual games. Axon’s interoperable security package for the event extends beyond stadiums and their airspace to training facilities and other adjacent areas, as well as transit to and from games.
While the airspace above all of it is protected by the Dedrone/Skydio combination, at ground level, live video around the stadium and nearby areas is captured by fixed Axon Outpost cameras and venue CCTV as well as Axon Body 4 bodycams on officers. This can all feed to an Axon Fusus real-time crime center for centralized command and control. Images, video and other data pertinent to possible criminal prosecutions move directly into Axon Evidence.
Exterior threats can be detected and vehicles tracked with Outpost, Axon Lightpost street cameras and the Axon Fleet 3 smart dashcam platform, supplemented by DFR. Coverage can extend with integration of additional public and private cameras, sensors and transit feeds, all coordinated in Axon Fusus. Video, alerts and location data can be easily shared for multiagency response.
All technologies in Axon’s World Cup package may qualify for FY2026 DHS/FEMA counter-UAS and FIFA World Cup grant programs.
Lasting protection after the event
For any kind of terrorist or criminal looking to make a splash, the World Cup is a fertile opportunity. Protecting it – especially from drone-based threats from the air – is a weighty responsibility. By entrusting that to Axon technologies, the 11 U.S. host cities will benefit from an extensive automated network knitted together above and around their event venues, supporting facilities and transit needs.
The same DFR infrastructure deployed for major events can also support day-to-day emergency response, from locating missing persons to assessing critical incidents before officers enter potentially dangerous environments.
The mechanisms put into place – starting with drone detection at key events and encompassing ongoing DFR and real-time integration of video and other key data – promise dividends long after the World Cup is over.
For more information, visit Axon.
