Merops: how the interceptor drone born in Ukraine became a US Army program of record in 142 days

The Merops drone-interception system became a US Army program of record in just 142 days, against the 180 provided for by the usual procedure. Col. Christopher Hill, director of the Army’s Global Tactical Equipping and Delivery (G-TEAD) directorate, explained its path at the AUSA conference in Washington, according to The War Zone. Hill called Merops “an example of how we can move fast when we need to”.

The starting point was the drone incursions into two NATO countries, Poland and Romania, in late 2025. “He said: ‘I want this capability in the hands of our partners within 14 days.’ Everyone looked around, he looked at me, and I nodded, like ‘we’ll figure it out’,” Hill recounted of a senior commander. According to The War Zone, the system reached NATO partners in about 21 to 22 days.

According to a March US Army report, G-TEAD initially bought 50 systems for a joint Poland-Romania exercise and within 48 hours of the demonstration secured an equipment arrangement worth about $6 million from the manufacturer, Perennial Autonomy. Merops is launched from a vehicle-mounted system and uses Surveyor interceptor drones, which operate autonomously or by remote control. It is used by American, Polish and Romanian forces.

“With Merops, Ukraine’s influence was total. It came from there. That is where we saw the capability,” Hill said, stressing, however, that how it is used makes the difference, since the desert differs from the urban environments of Ukraine. “Once we have it in our hands, we can decide in Europe: where does it go? Do I even need it?” he added. In Ukraine, Merops is used against Russian Shahed and Geran drones, where the jet-powered Geran drones at 600 km/h now raise the bar for cheap interceptor drones.

The Joint Interagency Task Force JIATF-401 procured 13,000 interceptors, while mobile Merops teams were sent to a second theatre of operations against Iranian Shahed-136s. Former Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll had told Congress the cost is about $15,000 per interceptor, with the prospect of falling below $10,000 at scale.

“We want to be sure we are giving commanders capabilities we know work,” Hill said, explaining that G-TEAD will cover the gap between the delivery of a system to units and its assumption by the programme manager. At the same AUSA, the Army also received the first L3Harris VAMPIRE counter-drone systems.