Sound Becomes a Weapon as US Firm Unleashes Acoustic Counter-Drone Tech
JERECHO is an antenna acoustic array platform, using directed sound for drone detection, disruption, and electronic interference.
Fractal Antenna Systems is turning sound into a battlefield tool with its new JERECHO acoustic array platform.
The system harnesses acoustic energy to detect, jam, or disrupt drones and other electronic threats, making it a flexible, low-collateral option to counter unmanned systems.
Its fractal-based array architecture is designed to control how sound travels through the air, allowing operators to precisely shape and steer acoustic energy.
Positioned as a soft-kill layer within larger defense networks, JERECHO provides acoustic sensing, imaging, and measured disruption.
Early demos have shown it can nudge a smartphone’s digital compass or create vibrations in small drone cameras, rendering them inefficient.
Beyond its counter-drone potential, JERECHO can also serve as a flexible testbed, letting researchers explore new acoustic tactics, spoofing techniques, and controlled-flight concepts.
The Core Tech
At the heart of JERECHO is Fractal’s proprietary Acoustic Resonance Mitigation (ARM) framework, originally patented in 2015 by a collaborator working with CEO Nathan Cohen.
Credited with pioneering acoustic counter-drone methods, it snagged the 2025 Gold Military & Aerospace Innovation Award.
JERECHO builds on that foundation with fractal-based techniques that shape, control, and amplify sound in ways previously unattainable.
Beyond drones, JERECHO could extend to robots, vessels, and unmanned systems, giving armed forces an extra layer of defense.
“Sound can be potent against modern machine surrogates such as drones, robots, smartphones, electronics, vessels, and aerial objects of unknown origin,” Fractal CEO Nathan Cohen said.
“We are advancing the very technologies we invented years ago, once brushed aside and even considered a dead end, to protect Americans and assets with acoustic innovations that go to 11.”
