Anybody Sitting On The Ground At Gatwick?

[oldE]

Police are not calling it an act of terror, but the army has been called in.

This from the BBC:
"Tens of thousands of passengers have been disrupted by drones flying over one of the UK's busiest airports.
Gatwick's runway has been shut since Wednesday night, as devices have been repeatedly flying over the airfield.
Sussex Police said it was not terror-related but a "deliberate act" of disruption, using "industrial specification" drones.
About 110,000 passengers on 760 flights were due to fly on Thursday. Disruption could last "several days".
An airline source told the BBC flights were currently cancelled until at least 19:00 GMT.
The airport advised that the runway would not open "until it was safe to do so".
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has confirmed the Army has been called in to support Sussex Police.
He said: "The armed forces have a range of unique capabilities and this isn't something we would usually deploy but we are there to assist and do everything we can so that they are in a position to open the airport at the earliest opportunity."
Those due to travel have been told to check the status of their flight, while Easyjet told its passengers not to go to Gatwick if their flights have been cancelled."

Best
Les

[Bill Douglas]

I'd be highly pissed off if I was sitting on the ground in Gatwick.

unique capabilities I have a shotgun too. And I'm sure they have a serial number that can be traced to retailer and customer.

[GH85Carrera]

No doubt, the military will have now or very soon, drone killer drones. It is going to be a big market for some manufacturer that figures how to make it work.

[Tervuren]

I've wondered about this for a long time.

The airport in Hawaii has open air passages. All the security checkpoints yet a RC vehicle could deliver payloads.

In this case it seems the risk of collision is the issue.

[KFC911]

I heard it was just two drones....imagine a small drone force spread all over. What that airport needs is a wall...or a moat ...

[Racerbvd]

[recycled sixtie]

I could not imagine being stuck in Gatwick airport. It seemed to me to be one of the most congested airports in terms of the number of passengers. At least Heathrow has several terminals.

As for those pesky drones. It was just a question of time before they became a threat. Likely made in China. Cheap and hard to trace.

[widebody911]

[Seahawk]

Funny stuff, Thom.

I am in the UAS business, we design, tool, make parts and assemble UAS for commercial and DoD purposes.

I have been directly involved with UAS since 2002.

The revolution has occurred in propulsion, batteries, avionics and sensors...UAS that were only available to DoD in terms of vehicle and sensor performance are now available to all.

There is no going back.

There are programs being developed to counter UAS, but the sheer number of UAS designs (water borne, hybrids that swim under the surface of the water and then go flying, hyper fast foam jets, etc.) makes the problem difficult.

I was invited to speak at this conference but had to decline: https://counteruas.iqpc.com/agenda/main-day-1

[Tobra]

Hyper fast, I like the sound of that

You put a drone carrying some C4 packed in shrapnel, or maybe a little shaped charge next to a jumbo jet, would be an ugly scene

[Laneco]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

Dick Cheney school of gun safety....

angela

[911boost]

I figured you would chime in Paul.

Have seen some counter drone tactics used at the Masters by the Feds, but I do not really know much about them.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

No doubt, the military will have now or very soon, drone killer drones. It is going to be a big market for some manufacturer that figures how to make it work.

Kinda suspicious if this event was planned by an anti-drone manufacture.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by 911boost

I figured you would chime in Paul.

Have seen some counter drone tactics used at the Masters by the Feds, but I do not really know much about them.

The problem is a classic example of asymmetric threats: Jam? Intercept? Interrupt?

How? What is the ODDA loop on detecting, classifying and countering a UAS? And at what cost?

The foams have a radar cross section of a bumblebee and are coming in with alacrity.

We were really worried about this in 2005...and it has only gotten worse. Autopilots, GPS denied nav, tiny EP/IR gimbals...on and on.

All being worked. We'll see. The interwebs are full of big corporations thoughts on C UAS.