AIRPORTS ARE TAKING ON THE DRONE THREAT
BOTH Gatwick and Heathrow Airports are investing in anti-drone technology following the chaos caused in the run up to Christmas.
About 1,000 Gatwick flights were cancelled or diverted across three days in December after drones were spotted inside the airport perimeter.
The crisis ruined the pre-Christmas travel plans of tens of thousands of people and Sussex Police believe “industrial specification drones” were being controlled within kilometres of the airport.
Police later admitted that some of the multiple drone sightings, which shut the airport, may have been of police’s own drones .
All in all, police received 115 reports of sightings in the area, including 92 which have been confirmed as coming from “credible people”, but bizarrely, no photographic or video proof has emerged.
A Gatwick Airport spokeswoman confirmed that they had now “acquired anti-drone technology”.
“It is in no one’s interest to go into specifics, but we have acquired that now and it is in place,” she said.
The army had brought anti-drone technology to the airport when they were called after Sussex Police came under fire for their response.
Despite the army’s presence, drone reports continued to come in. The mysterious drone or drones causing such widespread travel chaos have still not been captured.
On Thursday January 3 the Ministry of Defence confirmed it had removed its “military capability” from Gatwick but was “ever-ready to assist should a request for support be received.”
It has been reported that teams at Heathrow and in the Met were trying out an anti-drone bazooka known as SkyWall .
Heathrow Airport has refused to comment on the whether the technology had been tried, while the Met referred us to the National Police Chief’s Council, who said they could not comment on “live operations”.
However, the airport has confirmed that it is always reviewing the latest technology to tackle drones, which are a known issue at the airport.
A spokeswoman for the airport added: “The safety of our passengers and colleagues remains our top priority.
“Working closely with relevant authorities including the Met Police, we are constantly looking at the best technologies that help remove the threat of drones.”
In June, a Boeing Dreamliner jet, which can carry as many 335 passengers, was flying over Clapham on the way to Heathrow, when a drone missed the plane’s engine by just 10 feet .
A report found that this was the 11th incident of a near-miss between a drone and a plane for far that year at a west London airport.
A drone bill was already due to be read in Parliament in February.