Threat is real and it’s huge

BE under no illusion, the disruption at Gatwick is an attack on part of the UK’S critical national infrastructure.

It is not accidental, it is deliberate and the motivations at the time of writing remain unknown.

The chief operating officer of Gatwick Airport, Chris Woodroofe, described it as “unprecedented”. It is what would be described as a “Black Swan” event – extremely difficult to predict.

The Aviation and Border Security conference in London in November discussed emerging threats from drones from extremists and misguided hobbyists.

The collective thoughts of leaders from the Civil Aviation Authority, UK Airports and the Met Police didn’t predict this.

Copycat

Our airports do have robust, rehearsed and proven responses to drone incidents – the threats are recognised. But the greatest risk which is all that is covered in the CAA Drone Safety Risk Assessment paper, published in January this year, is a collision between a drone and an aircraft. It doesn’t mention closing an airport. The attack shows the vulnerability of our airports to drones – that will be at the forefront of the minds of copycat attackers, terrorists and criminals. The threat genie is out of the bottle so very real measures will have to be taken.

Andy Blackwell, a former head of security with Virgin Atlantic, told me he was “concerned that the significant impact this incident has created and its publicity will stimulate copycat activity”.

Given that drones can fly at over 40mph for over 30 minutes, the threat area is huge. You can’t practically shoot them down or disable them electronically under current laws. You have a massive area to try to find and track them in, that is the key to be able to react.

Blackwell’s view is, “the biggest challenge is getting people to believe such threats exist”. Now they do.