OK, so maybe it wasn’t the tarmac, maybe that’s just Trojan lore, maybe the abrupt firing took place in a small room next to the runway.
Either way, the memory has been burned in Kiffin’s heart and mind, helping motivate him to increased success on the field and seemingly heartfelt balance in his personal life.
Now the tables have turned. Kiffin, 50, has led Ole Miss to a No. 5 national ranking and 10-1 record, the fourth year in the last five the Rebels have won at least 10 games. He seemingly shed the reputation for aloofness and me-first attitude that dogged him as a failed NFL head coach at age 32 and as an Alabama assistant let go by Nick Saban days before a national title game for focusing too much on his next job.
Yet, here we are again, Kiffin apparently contemplating the unthinkable. Would he really abandon Ole Miss on the eve of the College Football Playoff for Florida or Louisiana State, fellow SEC schools and established national powers hunting for head coaches?
A young fan shows his support for Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin during the second half of a game against Florida in Oxford, Miss., on Nov. 15, 2025.
(Rogelio V. Solis/Associated Press)
Kiffin’s ex-wife Layla — they are on friendly terms — and 17-year-old son Knox recently were flown on private jets to Gainesville, Fla., and Baton Rouge, La., presumably to check out the livability and vibes of the potential next entry on Kiffin’s resume.
Ole Miss is well aware of Kiffin’s impending decision and clearly want to know the answer ahead of the Rebels’ regular-season finale Nov. 28 against Mississippi State. Kiffin, however, denied rumors that Ole Miss athletic director Keith Carter had given him an ultimatum to decide before then.
“Yeah, that’s absolutely not true,” Kiffin told “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN on Tuesday. “There has been no ultimatum, anything like that at all. And so I don’t know where that came from, like a lot of stuff that comes out there. Like I said, man, we’re having a blast. I love it here.”
In fairness to Kiffin, the urgency to decide now rather than at season’s end is a function of today’s college football recruiting calendar and transfer portal. The high school signing period begins Dec. 3 and the transfer portal opens Jan. 2.
The first round of the CFP will be Dec. 19 and 20. The quarterfinals are on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Florida and LSU can’t wait that long to hire a coach.
What should he do? Most seasoned pundits believe he should not budge.
“Kiffin should stay and see the season out; attempt to win, try to reach the Final Four or beyond, make the memories, and forge the deep bonds that coaching is supposed to be about,” longtime columnist Dan Wetzel wrote for ESPN.
Reasons to jump to LSU or Florida are that both schools are in talent-rich states with massive fan bases and deep tradition. The ceiling is higher and the stands fuller than in Oxford, Miss. Also, coaches at those established SEC powers tend to dig in for years. Who knows when a similar opportunity will present itself?
Kiffin’s quandary is understandable. Old Miss administrators, however, vividly recall 2022 when Kiffin was courted by Auburn and allowed the issue to linger and sabotage a potentially great season. The Rebels were 8-1 when the rumors began and then lost four in a row.
Nobody at Ole Miss wants another collapse because Kiffin — again — had a wandering eye. His decision is difficult, and won’t wait.
“We’re going to use all the tools at our disposal to be able to acquire new technology as quickly as possible to get it into the hands of the warfighter,” Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, director of the newly created Joint Interagency Task Force-401 (JIATF-401). Ross spoke on Friday to a small group of reporters, including from The War Zone.
The Army-led task force is creating what Ross calls a “UAS and counter-UAS marketplace” that will allow the installation commanders and interagency partners like the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement to shop for equipment and components.
A task force spokesman described the effort as “an Amazon-like marketplace for the procurement of counter-drone technology and equipment where people can go online, look for capabilities and user feedback.” It will be similar to one being launched by the Army for the procurement of drones.
Tech. Sgt. Ian Kay, a member of the U.S. Northern Command Counter-small Unmanned Aerial System fly-away kit team, sets an Anvil drone interceptor on its platform during an exercise at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., Oct. 27, 2025. (Department of Defense photo by John Ingle) John Ingle
The marketplace “will provide authoritative data on how each of these systems performs under varying conditions and allow users or customers to select the tool that’s right for them,” Ross explained. “We’ve got a wide variety of counter-UAS tools, and I actually think that we need all of them, because depending on where you are or what threat you’re focused on, your requirements will be slightly different. So we want to ensure that we provide a range of options both to the Department of War and to our interagency partners.”
The task force is looking at systems and components already on the market as well as working with industry partners to develop new ones. There are “hundreds of componentsof counter-UAS systems that could go on to the marketplace today, and we need to start thinking about these counter-UAS systems as components that are interchangeable.”
He did not offer specific examples but said it includes a wide range of sensors to detect drones and low-collateral and non-kinetic effectors to defeat them. The task force is not looking at explosive interceptors because, as we pointed out in the past, there are concerns about collateral damage and what works in a combat zone is not applicable in the homeland. We have profiled a number of these systems in previous articles.
Providing individual components in addition to complete systems allows individual purchasers to better obtain what they need, Ross noted.
“When you look at a full-stack system, you may settle for a less-than-optimal configuration of your radar, your EO/IR camera, and your layered effectors,” Ross explained. “If I only need to sense 20 kilometers and not 40 kilometers and I could change out that radar, put a lower-cost radar on there, then I could put more systems out into the field. As we look at that marketplace, I really want it to be components, similar to what you would see on any other online marketplace, that are plug-and-play as part of a counter-UAS system.”
A system designed to detect drones via the radiofrequency signals they put out and hijack the control link between them and their operators on display at Falcon Peak 2025. (Howard Altman)
Beyond offering equipment, the task force is streamlining the command and control of the wide array of systems being used by the military and its agency partners.
“What’s critical in any counter-UAS system is the mission command that allows you to tie together disparate sensors and effectors,” he posited. “And so what we are going to do inside of JIATF-401 is ensure that we standardize the communications protocols on how we send and receive information so that every component of a counter-UAS system is plug and play.” “
“For too long, we’ve struggled with integration,” Ross suggested. “And as people use different mission command systems, they had to specifically integrate a new component. And just like when you buy something to put on your Wi-Fi network at home, you know it’s going to work because the communication protocols are already established. We want to do the exact same thing for counter-UAS systems, both internal to the Department of War and for our interagency partners.”
The task force has yet to settle on a specific system.
The Engagement Operation Center, which is the primary data process and communication component of the Army’s Integrated Battle Command System. (U.S. Army) NATHANIEL PIERCE
“We evaluated every service’s mission command system last month in Operation Clear Horizon,” the task force director explained. “We did that specifically to assess their quantitative performance and then qualitatively how the workflows affected the outcome of those mission command systems. And we’re evaluating that now.”
While the task force is creating a more unified mission command system, Ross said it is important for individual installations to be able to act quickly on their own.
“It’s important that we remain decentralized,” he said. “If you look at the speed at which these systems can present a threat, you have to have operators that are empowered, trained, and they understand their authorities to be able to counter those threats, because they just don’t have time to go up to a higher level for approval.”
Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio was one of several military installations to report drone overflights last year. (Wright Patterson Air Force Base) Wright Patterson Air Force Base
“I think there’s a number of things that have changed,” the director pointed out. “Number one, we are consistently fielding new counter-UAS capabilities at our installations, and as we do that, we prioritize them based off what we have to protect at each of those installations.”
In addition, the task force has “also worked with the services that are responsible for each of the installations in NORTHCOM to provide additional options. So what you described is a very complex problem, and as you look at it at scale, there’s a lot of work to do.”
“We are helping the services with their assessments of critical infrastructure, determining what they need to close gaps, and then we’re helping them get it quickly. In areas where the services require assistance inside of the homeland.”
According to the Army, the kits themselves are “an amalgamation of sensors and effectors that creates a total detect, track, identify and mitigation system including:
The Heimdal mobile sensor trailer that includes a continuous 360-degree pan and tilt unit, thermal optics and a radar, all working together autonomously for target acquisition.
Anvil drone interceptors and launch box, which operate autonomously to detect, track, shadow and mitigate threats.
An electromagnetic warfare effector called Pulsar that features radio frequency detect, track, classify and deny options.
The Wisp, a wide-area infrared system that is AI-enabled and offers 360-degree, full-motion sensoring that provides an accurate sight picture for operators.”
An Anvil non-kinetic drone interceptor from Anduril launches from its platform in response to a drone threat during an exercise at Minot Air Force Base, N.D., Oct. 23, 2025. (Department of Defense photo by John Ingle) John Ingle
Last month, the kits attained operational certification, according to the Army. NORTHCOM told us they are the “final option in a series of escalating measures for the Department of War’s response to drone threats,” only called upon if an installation or the service that owns it can’t provide the needed tools and personnel.
Still, Ross insisted that military installations “are equipped to handle UAS incursions.”
“The specific equipment varies by location,” Ross proffered, “but what we’re trying to build at each location where we have critical infrastructure that needs to be protected is a layered defense that includes distributed sensing and layered effectors so that we have the ability to counter any and all threats.”
Another huge area of concern for the military are attacks like Ukraine’s Spider Web strike on Russian aviation and Israel’s Operation Rising Lion attack on air defense systems and other military targets and personnel. The incidents have highlighted the danger presented by near-field drone attacks launched deep within enemy territory, in close proximity to their targets. As we have pointed out for many years, military assets and other high-value targets are extremely vulnerable to these types of operations within the homeland.
One of the most visible counter-drone efforts is taking place on the southern border, where President Donald Trump has ordered thousands of troops and equipment to prevent the flow of undocumented aliens and drugs into the country.
“I was actually at the southern border last week, spending time both with the NORTHCOM team and with the Joint Task Force Southern Border to understand the challenges that they’re facing,” he said. “I do that because understanding their challenges very specifically will allow us to focus our effort on closing that next gap. If you look across the 1,954-mile border, I think that we do face a challenge of unmanned systems, and NORTHCOM is focused on addressing those challenges now, in conjunction with other lead federal agencies.”
The task force is working toward “an integrated, distributed sensing network that includes both passive and active sensors, and then layering in effectors, or counter UAS effectors that will allow us to defeat a threat as it crosses the border,” Ross explained. “We’re working closely with DHS, Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Interior and other agencies that are working along the southern border.”
The U.S. Army is contributing ground-based radars to help spot and track drones as part of the continued build-up of U.S. military support along with the U.S.-Mexican border. (DoD/US Army)
In addition, JIATF-401 is “also looking to integrate new technology like low-cost attritable interceptors that will provide additional options and more tools to our service members as they’re defending our southern border.”
These include “RF defeat, absolutely low-cost interceptors, a variety of different sensors that would include acoustic and active radar. And then we’re going to make sure that all of those sensors provide an integrated air awareness or air picture, so that we can choose the best effector to counter a UAS depending on its size, its activity in the location.”
Drones have already been taken down coming over the border, Ross stated, but he did not specifically say how. We reached out to NORTHCOM and the task force for further details.
U.S. Army soldiers stand outside of a Stryker armored infantry transport vehicle, which has been deployed along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the military’s Joint Task Force Southern Border mission, in Sunland Park, New Mexico, on Friday, April 4, 2025. Paul Ratje
It is one thing to have the equipment and personnel, but the task force is also pushing for increased authorities to act. That includes making sure all bases fall under the provisions of “130(i),” federal law covering current authorities for the “protection of certain facilities and assets from unmanned aircraft.”
Under 130i, the U.S. military has the authority to take “action” to defend against drones including with measures to “disrupt control of the unmanned aircraft system or unmanned aircraft, without prior consent, including by disabling the unmanned aircraft system or unmanned aircraft by intercepting, interfering, or causing interference with wire, oral, electronic, or radio communications used to control the unmanned aircraft system or unmanned aircraft” and “use reasonable force to disable, damage, or destroy the unmanned aircraft system or unmanned aircraft.”
The new counter-drone task force is pushing for additional authorities to protect bases from drones. (Air Force photo by Peter Borys) (U.S. Air Force photo by Peter Borys)
However, only a portion of U.S. bases are covered and Ross wants to make it a blanket protection for all.
“We want to make sure that those authorities enable installation commanders with everything they need to be able to protect that critical infrastructure,” Ross explained. “That’s one part of it. The second part of it is making sure that what’s actually in the law is clearly communicated to those installation commanders so there’s no ambiguity, and they know exactly what they can do, both inside the fence line, outside the fence line, and in coordination with local law enforcement around those installations.”
On Nov. 25, JIATF-401 is going to hold what Ross calls “a counter-UAS summit” attended by subject matter experts from interagency partners. The summit will focus on intelligence gathering, policy, science and technology, and operations.
“We want to make sure that we’ve got an enduring partnership with each of those agencies because we know this problem is going to continue to evolve,” said Ross, “and we want to be able to move at the speed of relevance.”
