Design and capabilities
Zvook is a Ukrainian passive-acoustic detection system that identifies air threats by the sound they make rather than by radar return. It works as a distributed network of microphone stations, each fitted with a curved "acoustic mirror" roughly half a metre across that concentrates sound onto the microphone, giving a coverage angle near 200 degrees per station. Software analyses the captured audio, isolates the acoustic signature of a cruise missile, drone, helicopter, or low-flying jet, and triangulates the track across neighbouring stations. Reported detection range is up to about 5 kilometres for a drone and 7 kilometres for a cruise missile, well short of a conventional radar but at a fraction of the cost: a station is put at roughly 500 dollars, cheap enough to deploy in large numbers, and because the sensor only listens it emits nothing for an adversary to detect or jam. In early 2026 the company introduced a tactical sensor, the ZVOOK NW0, built to detect first-person-view drones, including fibre-optic-controlled FPVs that carry no radio link and so evade electronic-warfare detection; its declared range is 150 to 450 metres with 360-degree coverage.
Operational history
The Zvook project was reorganised into an independent company in Lviv in 2023 and sits within Ukraine's Brave1 defence-technology cluster. Thousands of Zvook sensors have been fielded across Ukraine, used mainly against low-altitude cruise missiles and drones. Zvook is frequently discussed alongside Sky Fortress, a separate Ukrainian acoustic-detection system launched in 2022 that reports a larger network of 10,000 or more sensors and NATO-backed funding to expand further; the two are distinct programmes and their deployment figures should not be merged. Interest from NATO members has been concrete: representatives of eleven NATO countries were shown a private demonstration in Europe in which simulated cruise missiles and drones were detected and tracked. Lithuania is the first Baltic state to move on the technology. General Raimundas Vaikšnoras, Commander-in-Chief of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, told LRT that funding is secured, with testing in late 2025 and deployment from 2026 to complement the country's radar-based air defence.
AirVeto context
Acoustic detection is the direct counter-drone answer to the incursions AirVeto reconstructs: the Shahed, Geran, and FPV types that cross the eastern border are exactly what these sensors are tuned to hear. Lithuania fielding the technology from 2026 places it over the same airspace AirVeto's incident record covers, alongside the counter-drone systems Lithuanian forces are already drilling. One caution for readers: Zvook and Sky Fortress are separate systems that news coverage often blurs, and the large sensor counts usually belong to Sky Fortress, not to Zvook specifically.