# Counter-Drone Systems designed to detect, track, and neutralize hostile [[Drone]]s. An emerging arms race: as cheap drones proliferate on battlefields and in domestic airspace, the demand for counter-drone technology is creating its own defense-tech market. **Detection methods:** radar, radio-frequency scanning (detecting drone control signals), acoustic sensors, and [[Computer Vision]]-based identification. The challenge: distinguishing a hostile drone from a bird, a commercial drone, or friendly aircraft — especially at scale. **Neutralization methods:** jamming (disrupting GPS and control signals), spoofing (feeding the drone false GPS coordinates), directed energy (laser weapons), kinetic intercept (shooting it down), and net capture. Each method has trade-offs — jamming affects friendly communications, kinetic intercept risks collateral damage, and laser systems require significant power. **The economics problem:** a $500 consumer drone can be neutralized by a $3M Patriot missile (as reportedly happened in exercises), making the cost exchange ratio absurd. Effective counter-drone systems need to be cheap enough that the math works, which is why electronic warfare (jamming, spoofing) and AI-enabled detection are preferred over kinetic solutions. The [[Perennial Autonomy $500M JIATF-401 Counter-Drone Contract]] illustrates the market scale. [[Anduril Lattice]] integrates counter-drone detection across its sensor network. The Ukraine conflict has been the largest real-world laboratory for counter-drone tactics, with both sides iterating rapidly on detection and neutralization. ## See Also - [[Drone]] — the threat - [[Loitering Munition]] — the weaponized variant - [[Swarm Robotics]] — the force-multiplication scenario that makes C-UAS hardest - [[Anduril Lattice]] — the command layer - [[Technology Lexicon]] — the full vocabulary (robotics section)