Scramble to stop drone copycats
Ministers were scrambling to protect Britain against potential copycat drone attacks amid fears the chaos at Gatwick could be replicated at other transport hubs across the country.
Whitehall sources said the authorities were ‘‘very concerned’’ about attempts to repeat the paralysis at Britain’s second busiest airport and were taking urgent steps to safeguard others against the threat.
Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, who is among ministers liaising with authorities and airport chiefs, said: ‘‘The Armed Forces stand ready to assist the civilian authorities whenever they are required.’’
Senior ministers are due to meet at Downing Street tomorrow to discuss their response to the threat.
Yesterday police arrested a local drone enthusiast on suspicion of carrying out the attack. But his boss insisted that Paul Gait, 47, was at work throughout much of the disruption. Gait, a window fitter, was detained along with his wife Elaine Kirk, 54, at their home in Crawley, West Sussex, just a five-minute drive from the airport’s perimeter. The couple were being questioned on suspicion of causing three days of chaos at Britain’s second busiest airport by repeatedly flying a device into restricted air space.
Their family and neighbours last night expressed their surprise over the couple’s arrest and it is believed that wider police inquiries are ongoing.
The authorities are understood to have been spooked by the unusual nature of the attack, under which a drone appeared to be operated in Gatwick’s airspace with the sole purpose of disrupting flights.
In 2016 a report set out how terror groups such as Hizbollah had used the unmanned devices to drop small bombs and warned for the potential for them to be used in kamikaze-style ramming attacks at airports. But in this case the drone simply hovered in the air, on occasion ‘‘taunting’’ the authorities, without any individuals or groups claiming responsibility or cause physical damage.
Richard Walton, who was Scotland Yard’s head of counterterrorism until 2016, said: ‘‘Unfortunately we are now likely to see copycat incidents off the back off this. And the ease with which a major UK aviation hub was brought to a standstill will not have escaped the attention of terrorist groups who will be wondering why they have not tried using drones before.’’
A Whitehall source said: ‘‘We are very concerned about any potential copycats and measures are being taken to address that.’’
A combined team of RAF and Army personnel is expected to remain at Gatwick for at least a fortnight after eventually being deployed to the airport on Friday.
– Telegraph Group