FEMA stops taking applications for its second $250 million counter-drone round on November 16 at 5 p.m. Eastern, and a police department that reads that date off the federal notice has days left in at least three states, not weeks. Kansas closes its applications at 11:59 p.m. Central on November 4, and Indiana and Mississippi both close on November 6.

Local agencies never file with FEMA. The Federal Emergency Management Agency takes applications only from each state’s administrative agency, which collects local requests on its own calendar, picks the projects it wants and submits them in one package. In North Carolina the local window runs to November 25, nine days after FEMA’s own cutoff.

The notice also tells states to pass at least 97% of the money through to local and tribal governments. North Carolina and Mississippi have each published a local floor of 80%.

Kansas Closes Its Window 12 Days Before FEMA

The Kansas Highway Patrol, which administers the state’s $3,725,420 share, gave local police eight days between its October 27 notice and its November 4 cutoff. Indiana, allocated $3,924,953, opened on October 23 and closes November 6 at 4 p.m. Eastern, and Mississippi closes the same day at 5 p.m.

Mississippi’s funding guidance asks every applicant for an investment justification, a signed local consent agreement, a mission statement, the agency’s most recent audit, four NIMS certificates, and, where applicable, proof of registration at the FBI’s National Counter-UAS Training Center. The state’s homeland security office then applies to FEMA for all of them at once and issues subawards after FEMA approves.

North Carolina runs the other way. Its application period opened October 30 and closes November 25 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, and the state has scheduled an applicant office hour for November 17, the day after FEMA’s deadline. FEMA’s notice of funding opportunity says applications not in its FEMA GO system by November 16 will not be accepted, and North Carolina’s page does not say how requests filed after that date reach FEMA. The notice does tell states to submit project justifications worth 150% of their allocation, so FEMA can fund the next one in line when a local project is ruled ineligible.

The 97% Pass-Through Comes With a 20% Exception

FEMA’s notice says states may keep 3% for administration and must pass 97% to eligible subrecipients, and the same section then lets a state retain up to 20% of its award for equipment that benefits state law enforcement. North Carolina and Mississippi have both set their local floor at 80%.

North Carolina’s allocation is $4,596,469, and its page promises local governments at least $3,677,175.20. Mississippi expects $3,617,564 and lists $2,894,051.20 for local jurisdictions. Kansas describes its $3,725,420 as a statewide figure that includes state-level projects and administration, without saying how much the Highway Patrol will keep.

The floors behind those numbers are the $3,325,000 every state, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia is guaranteed, and the $760,000 for each of four smaller territories. California’s $18,665,396 is the largest allocation, as DroneXL reported on October 26, and the round follows the $250 million FEMA sent to 11 World Cup states and the National Capital Region last December. FEMA Administrator Cameron Hamilton called unlawful drones “a real and growing danger” in the October 16 announcement, which describes the program as noncompetitive.

North Carolina Lets Only Three Agencies Buy Jammers

North Carolina will fund jammers for three agencies only: the City of Charlotte, the State Bureau of Investigation and the North Carolina Highway Patrol. Every other local agency, down to the fire services, is limited to detection gear. The state cites federal mitigation rules and its allocation’s size.

The federal rules are the ones DroneXL covered when local police first got authority to take down drones: only an accredited law enforcement or correctional agency may operate a jammer, through officers certified at the FBI’s Redstone Arsenal school, which the Justice Department plans to more than double in capacity. FEMA’s notice tells states that DHS strongly encourages radar, because a drone flown without Remote ID or a radio link gives passive sensors nothing to hear.

FEMA expects to select projects on December 2 and issue awards on December 10, with three years to spend the money. Costs incurred before December 10 are not reimbursable, so no state can buy anything on this round until the awards land.

DroneXL’s Take

The money is being allocated on the states’ calendars, and FEMA’s press release never mentions that. A police chief who found the November 16 date in last month’s federal announcement has until Wednesday in Kansas and until Friday in Indiana and Mississippi. One line in the notice telling local agencies to call their state office first would have fixed that, and I’d have put it in the headline.

The 80% figures bother me more. The headline rule says 97% of this money is for local and tribal governments, and the exception a paragraph later lets a state patrol keep a fifth of it for its own equipment. North Carolina and Mississippi both wrote 80% into their local guidance before a single application was scored, and neither has said it will give back the difference. My read is that the exception will become the rule in most of the 56 jurisdictions, and a sheriff who asked for a radar should also ask what the state bought with the money that never reached the county.

Sources: FEMA FY 2027 C-UAS Grant Program NOFO, FEMA press release, October 16, 2026, Kansas Highway Patrol, Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Mississippi Office of Homeland Security, North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.