High Tech Flyswatters

The use of unmanned aerial systems to disrupt or attack military and civilian personal and locations is now and established threat to be countered.

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In December 2018, multiple sightings of at least one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) were reported near the only runway of Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom. More than 1,000 flights were cancelled or diverted during prolonged airport shutdowns between 19 and 21 December, affecting around 140,000 passengers during the busy festive season. The emergency prompted the government to deploy Royal Air Force (RAF) personnel, equipped with Rafael Drone Dome communications-jamming technology acquired for the British Army earlier in the year, to provide counter-UAV coverage at Gatwick.

UAVs are becoming widely available commercially. Current UAV market offerings, particularly ready-to-fly multirotor ‘drones’ equipped with digital cameras for commercial, industrial, and recreational aerial imaging have proliferated in recent years as prices became progressively affordable. Indeed, many people can easily purchase a wide range of small but high-performance hobby UAVs from manufacturers such as DJI, Parrot, and Yuneec.

Although the use of such UAVs has been largely benign, the asymmetric and tactical advantages such cheap and easy-to-operate aerial platforms – especially those that can be modified to carry improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or other small weapons such as grenades – has not been lost on non-state actors, terrorists and less well-resourced military forces, and as such the potential threat that these pose against both military and civilian targets is increasing.