London airports order military-grade anti-drone equipment
Two airports in the British capital London have ordered military-grade anti-drone defenses after drones caused three days of disruption at Gatwick last month.
London’s Gatwick and Heathrow airports confirmed on Thursday that the anti-drone defenses are worth “several million pounds,” without giving further details.
“While I can’t go into detail about exactly what we have, I can confirm this was an investment of several million pounds to ensure we are at an equivalent level to that provided by the Armed Forces”, a spokeswoman for Gatwick, Britain’s second busiest airport, said in an emailed statement.
Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, also said it had ordered the equipment and was working closely with authorities and looking at relevant technology to combat the threat of drones.
UK Transport Minister Chris Grayling met police, aviation and military officials on Thursday to discuss the issue, according to The Times newspaper, which first reported the orders.
Drone sightings caused chaos last month at Gatwick, disrupting the travel plans of tens of thousands of people in the run-up to Christmas. The incident led to about 1,000 flight cancellations and affected the travel of 140,000 passengers.
The incident revealed a vulnerability that is being scrutinized by security forces and airport operators worldwide.
The military was drafted to deploy specialist equipment, enabling authorities to reassure the airport that it was safe for planes to take off and land.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said her government was mulling plans to give police more power in dealing with recreational drones in future. A spokesman of May’s office said the drone flying as “irresponsible and completely unacceptable”.
UK aviation experts have estimated that private drones and aircraft had 92 near-collisions in the country last year, adding that the number of such incidents had increased by three times between 2015 and 2017.
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