Chief of Defense Staff General Gheorghita Vlad announced on Tuesday in a press conference that Romania will soon deploy the U.S.-made Merops anti-drone system to defend its airspace, and that the teams that will operate it have already been trained.
"We have received a Merops anti-drone system. The teams are prepared, and very soon it will be introduced into operation for the defense of the Romanian airspace," General Gheorghita Vlad told a press conference in Sibiu, delivered alongside NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alexus G. Grynkewich at the Multinational Corps Headquarters South-East. After meeting journalists, the two visited the 'Getica' National Joint Training Center in Cincu.
General Grynkewich said he looks forward to Romania demonstrating the system's ability to shoot down drones and protect citizens, noting that Merops is part of NATO's Eastern Centry initiative to strengthen air defense on the eastern flank.
We learned many lessons from the war in Ukraine about drones and countermeasures. Eastern Centry covers the entire eastern flank, and as Romania integrates Merops, it will show its capacity to defend against drone threats, he said.
Polish troops began testing Merops in November 2025, launching replica attack drones similar to those Moscow uses against Ukraine, France Presse reported. The system, developed by a company backed by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, has already proven effective in Ukraine.
U.S. Gen. Curtis King said in November that Merops is "one of the most effective killers of Russia's Shahed drones," estimating it accounts for 40% of those shot down.
The deployment in Romania and Poland follows NATO's scramble in September to intercept Russian drones over Poland and reflects the Alliance's push to accelerate new air-defense capabilities. Merops, which uses artificial intelligence to target enemy drones, is one of several systems now being tested by NATO countries.
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