Four boxes plus a plan

A potting bench seen from above through the glass roof of a greenhouse, between seed trays, a trowel and stacked terracotta pots. In a row on the bench: a handheld radio receiver with a small screen showing green rows from the air, a matte grey box with two stub antennae, a bamboo cane with a microphone and a small circuit board tied to it, and a thick blue notebook.

By 2026 the counter-drone trade advertises in the open: a maker prints what its box can hear, a hackathon posts its winners, and a government publishes what it plans to buy and where the money comes from. Much of the technology began at the Ukrainian front and is now being offered across Europe. A listener built for a drone can hear more than the drone, but the published material rarely mentions what happens to everything else it hears.

Last reviewed: 2026-09-25.