Military Technology and Drone Warfare

U.S. defense officials say Washington will deploy the Merops anti‑drone system to multiple locations in the Middle East to strengthen defenses against Iranian Shahed drones, drawing on lessons from its use against Russian drones in Ukraine and along NATO’s eastern flank. The backpack‑sized system, made by Perennial Autonomy and small enough to ride in a midsize pickup, uses drones to hunt and intercept other drones and relies on artificial intelligence to navigate even when GPS and communications are jammed, offering a cheaper alternative to firing Patriot or THAAD missiles that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars at $50,000‑class targets. Officials describe current U.S. performance against Iranian drones as “disappointing” and say Merops is part of the assistance Ukraine is providing after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the U.S. had asked Kyiv for help countering Shahed systems. Rep. Jim Himes, the top House Intelligence Committee Democrat, recently warned that Iran’s large drone inventory creates a “math problem” for the U.S., since expensive interceptors are an unsustainable way to counter swarms of cheap drones. Most Merops units will be shipped directly by the company, which is backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and some will be sited where no U.S. troops are present, signaling a push to harden regional partners’ defenses as well as American bases.