Jammers, interceptors, detection networks — the technology built to stop drones.
Counter-drone technology sits on the wrong side of an asymmetry: detecting a drone is legal for almost anyone, and disabling one is a federal crime for almost everyone. This desk tracks the technology and the law in the same place, because neither makes sense without the other.
The bottleneck is certification, not hardware. Texas wants counter-drone power for its cartel-drone problem, and only 61 US officers nationwide are certified to use it — a training pipeline problem sitting on top of a genuine security need. At the federal level the gap runs even higher: NORTHCOM’s own deputy commander has said the command cannot stop a homeland drone swarm, a rare public admission from the agency actually responsible for it.
Detection, the legal half of the problem, keeps advancing. Duke University demonstrated a drone that tracks another drone using only its sound — passive, no emission, no legal exposure. Passive systems like that are where most near-term counter-drone deployment is actually happening, precisely because they sidestep the jamming restrictions.
Europe is moving fastest because it has been provoked directly. Germany opened a dedicated counter-drone test center at Cochstedt after a cargo-drone bomb hit an Antonov’s wing at Leipzig, and drones repeatedly circled Europe’s only Patriot missile repair base at Mechernich in the following days.
Related desks: Russia and Ukraine for the conflict driving most of the innovation in this space, drone incidents for airspace violations more broadly, and the FAA hub for the domestic regulatory picture. Every counter-drone story lands in the feed below.
Last updated November 13, 2026 — the feed below updates with every new story.
Echodyne says its EchoShield radar has been integrated into the BAE Systems Anti Threat System, a modular counter-drone system trialed in Scotland.
Robert Brüll's Journal op-ed on Kyiv's jamming dome offers metal-coated fibers to shield military electronics. His company, FibreCoat, makes them.
Mission Defense Partners, from Mykhailo Fedorov and Lasar's Group founder Pavlo Yelizarov, targets a $20,000 to $25,000 all-weather anti-Shahed missile.
A Camp Pendleton logistics battalion bought 20 OperatorXR VR sets for $200,000 to train against drones. The same headsets now teach suicide prevention.
AUVSI names D-Fend's Brett Feddersen CEO from December 1. His testimony, his counter-drone record, and the FCC question his first statement skips.
Shield AI agreed to buy counter-drone radar maker Echodyne for up to $5.3 billion, raising $2.5 billion at a $28.8 billion valuation to pay for it.
DHS and four departments gave the FAA a safety review of new counter-drone systems, the day FEMA's chief was billed to keynote a drone grant forum.
Ukraine's HUR took apart Russia's new Geran-5 K5-K: 93 foreign parts, 52 from US firms, 23 by Texas Instruments, and a Chinese Pi that navigates by photo.
Almost never. Jamming GPS or control-link signals is federal law under the Communications Act, and only specific federal agencies plus a small number of specially certified state and local officers have any legal path to it. As of the most recent count, only 61 US officers nationwide hold that certification — a bottleneck, not a technology gap.
Detection systems — radar, RF sensors, acoustic tracking — are widely legal and increasingly capable; Duke University has even demonstrated a drone that tracks another drone by sound alone. Disabling a drone is the hard legal problem: jamming is restricted, and kinetic options (nets, interceptors) carry their own airspace and liability risks.
According to NORTHCOM's own deputy commander, not reliably — he has said publicly that the command cannot stop a homeland drone swarm. That is a capability admission from the agency responsible for it, not outside criticism.
Direct provocation. After a cargo drone bomb hit an Antonov's wing at Leipzig and drones repeatedly circled Europe's only Patriot missile repair base, Germany opened a dedicated counter-drone test center — a response to specific incidents rather than a general buildup.
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