KYIV, Ukraine — Lithuania, a NATO state bordering Russia and Belarus, bought 48 Merops interceptors from American manufacturer Perennial Autonomy on April 22, becoming the latest NATO country to buy into the $15,000 per-shot counter-drone system. The pilot purchase, made without competitive bidding, follows earlier Merops deployments and training with Polish and Romanian forces along NATO’s eastern flank. The system is an example of a new crop of drone countermeasures marketed under an ultra-