Drones That Hunt Drones: How to Stop a Swarm Without Firing Million-Dollar Missiles

Cheap drones by the hundreds, and missiles worth millions to shoot them down: Ukraine has shown that this is a losing equation for defenders. Instead we have to use a multilayered approach and be ready at all times, says John Gruen, CEO of Fortem Technologies.

A view from the cockpit of a Romanian F-16 fighter jet during a mission to intercept and neutralize two drones that entered Romanian airspace without authorization on October 17, in this handout image provided by the Borcea 86th Air Base and released on October 18, 2026 by the Romanian Defense Ministry, in location given as Romania. Romanian Minist

Romanian Ministry of National Defence/Handout via REUTERS

When a drone appears over a Polish city, there’s a second dilemma: shooting it down can be more dangerous than letting it fly. Jon Gruen, CEO of the US interceptor-drone maker Fortem Technologies and a former Navy SEAL, says the answer is autonomy: drones that hunt drones and bring them down in a net. Fortem now plans to manufacture in Europe together with the missile maker MBDA. Adam de Nisau has spoken with him at this year's Warsaw Security Forum.

John Gruen, CEO, Fortem Technologies

“It’s not wait for the detection, try to go deploy a countermeasure at that time. You have to be ready at all times. And the systems today can do it, and do it autonomously.”
— Jon Gruen, CEO of Fortem Technologies