U.S. World Cup Cities Are on a Counterdrone Spending Spree

The Kansas City, Mo., Police Department operates nine drones that fly to accidents and crime scenes at a moment’s notice, transmitting images back to the station.

The program has operated for over a year, but, until recently, it couldn’t identify or track drones that were not its own. A $11.4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency allowed the city, which is hosting several World Cup games, to purchase sensors and radars to detect and identify private and commercial drones across the city during the matches.

Previous global sporting events left behind stadiums that were later repurposed or torn down. This year’s World Cup could leave behind something more useful: equipment that can detect, track and — if need be — neutralize hostile drones in the sky.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/business/us-world-cup-cities-are-on-a-counterdrone-spending-spree.html