The Cobb Board of Commissioners will vote Tuesday on accepting the FIFA Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) Grant, which aims to enhance Cobb Police’s ability to “detect, assess and mitigate unauthorized drone activity associated with the 2026 FIFA World Cup and other large-scale special events.”
The tournament will be FIFA’s largest event to date, featuring 48 teams in 104 matches across 16 cities in North America, per the organization.
Between June 15 and July 15, Atlanta will host eight matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium — five group stage matches, a round of 32 match, a round of 16 match and a semifinal match.
This year marks Atlanta’s first time as a host city for the World Cup, and the second time the tournament has been held in the U.S. after first hosting in 1994. Atlanta will host the second-most matches out of all the host cities in this year’s tournament, trailing behind only Dallas, Texas, which is set to host nine.
Cobb is expected to see an influx in international visitors, large-scale public gatherings and high-profile events as it is slated to host training hubs, transportation and fan-engagement activities, according to the request by Cobb Police Chief James “Dan” Ferrell and Public Safety Agency Director Michael Register.
In fact, the Atlanta United FC Training Grounds in Marietta and Fifth Third Stadium at Kennesaw State University will both be used as team base camps — described by FIFA Atlanta as “where the 48 participating teams in the tournament may opt to establish their ‘homes away from home.’”
The high visitor volume and global media presence will likely bring heightened public safety, transportation and emergency management demands across the region. Considering this, the board authorized submission of the grant application back in November for an award amount between $7.5 and $12 million.
The Cobb Police Department was notified last month that it was being awarded $10.68 million for specialized “C-UAS equipment, systems and training” to “detect, track, identify and mitigate hostile drones,” per the county.
“Recent global and domestic incidents have demonstrated that unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), including drones, pose a growing threat to mass-gatherings due to their potential use for surveillance, disruption of public safety operations, interference with aircraft or the delivery of harmful payloads,” Ferrell and Register wrote.
The funded systems include “radar antennas equipped with cameras, approved mitigation equipment and infrastructure, and Drone as a First Responder (DFR) systems,” per the agenda item.
The grant also provides funding to support infrastructure and technology improvements and integrations in the Real Time Crime Center and deployment site locations.
There are no matching funds required and all equipment funded by the grant includes coverage for all software, maintenance, licensing and warranties for a period of five years. Continued maintenance after that will be absorbed within the county police department’s budget.
“These capabilities will be leveraged not only for World Cup activities, but also for ongoing protection of critical infrastructure, special events and emergency response operations throughout the county,” Ferrell and Register wrote.
Chair Lisa Cupid told the Journal after Monday’s agenda prep session the grant will ensure Cobb is “better positioned to make sure people are safe during the largest event in history that’s going to take place here in North America.
“We’re excited to be a part of that. We’re going to have … two practice facilities here in Cobb County, which is a significant honor for us to be able to showcase Cobb once again worldwide in the area of sports,” she said. “This also helps to relieve any pressure on our coffers, which are the taxpayers’ coffers for funding this event.”
As a condition of the grant, the board must also approve an agreement with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to participate in the C-UAS Task Force. The FBI created the program within its Joint Terrorism Task Force to identify and mitigate threats posed by drones and grant local law enforcement the federal authority to conduct such mitigation actions, per the county.
The board is scheduled to consider both items during its regular meeting 7 p.m. Tuesday at 100 Cherokee Street.
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