Merops vs Russian Drones: How NATO Is Reinforcing Its Entire Eastern Flank

Описание: NATO’s Eastern Flank is entering a new defensive era as Poland and Romania deploy their first Merops interceptor drones in response to a surge in Russian UAV incursions across European airspace. The deployment follows a sharp rise in violations, including over 20 Russian drones breaching Polish territory in September and a dramatic incident where a drone penetrated nearly 10 kilometres inside Romania’s Black Sea border. These violations have alarmed NATO, prompting accelerated joint training with U.S. forces near the Ukrainian frontier.

The Merops system has quickly become central to NATO’s strategy. Designed as a low-cost, high-impact interceptor, Merops destroys hostile drones through kinetic ramming for just $15,000 — a fraction of the cost of conventional million-dollar missiles. Battle-tested in Ukraine, it has proven remarkably effective, credited with intercepting 40% of incoming Shahed drones and achieving over 1,000 confirmed kills.

Powered by AI-driven optical homing, Merops continues to operate even in heavily jammed environments without needing GPS — a key advantage against Russian electronic warfare. NATO now envisions Merops as a backbone of its proposed “drone wall,” connecting Baltic states to the Black Sea through layered defenses combining AI systems, sensors and surveillance networks.

While experts caution that sealing the entire 1,300-km frontier is impossible, they agree that critical infrastructure, military bases and civilian population centres can be significantly protected. The deployment of Merops marks a turning point in Europe’s air defence posture — one that directly counters Russia’s expanding drone warfare strategy.

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