NOWA DEBA, Poland — Polish troops on Tuesday launched a drone from the back of a pick-up truck as they trained some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Ukrainian border to use a new U.S.-made system designed to counter the threat from Russia.

Guided by a pilot, the unmanned craft swooped through the winter sky on the hunt to destroy its target: a simulated version of one of the attack drones Moscow regularly uses to terrorize Ukraine.

The deployment of the Merops system is part of NATO’s hurried efforts to shore up its eastern flank after the alliance in September scrambled jets to shoot down Russian drones over Poland.

That incident — followed by a string of unexplained drone flights that rattled other European countries — served as a wake-up call of the continent’s vulnerabilities almo

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