Airports are slowly getting back to business amid the coronavirus crisis. While that’s a hopeful development for the travel industry, airports will need to plan for an ever-increasing threat of disruption from unauthorized drones overhead.
The last time an incident was widely reported was February 3, about a month before the pandemic started grounding planes. Madrid closed its international airport for two hours that day due to drones sighted in the airspace.
Over the past two years, unauthorized drone activity has shut down Gatwick and Heathrow airports in England, and international airports in Dubai, Dublin, Singapore, and Newark (New Jersey).
These incidents are increasing even though it is illegal to fly a drone higher than 400 feet, in restricted airspace, or within a kilometer of an airport.
“You have uneducated hobbyist operators who just don’t know all the regulations about drones,” explains Sarig Lev, business development manager for drones and anti-drone solutions at Israel Aerospace Industries subsidiary ELTA Systems.
“And on the other side,” Lev continues, “there are malicious operators who intend to cause harm.”
That’s why technologies to detect and disable these unmanned aerial vehicles are in hot demand.
Like birds, drones weighing only a couple of pounds — too small to be detected by traditional radar– can seriously damage aircraft.
Drones also present a threat to terminal buildings, Lev says. And there’s a possibility they could be carrying explosives.
Therefore, airports must always be on the lookout for drones to avoid expensive, aggravating shutdowns and flight cancellations, or worse.
Here we look at Israeli solutions to a dangerous problem plaguing airports across the world.
Drone Guard by ELTA Systems (IAI)
ELTA began developing Drone Guard in 2016 for military and civilian uses. Hundreds have been sold since 2017, but Lev explains that development is always evolving.
“The drone business is like smartphones – there are always new models and new threats, and we must adapt,” says Lev. “The variety of drones and the easy accessibility is increasing all around the world.”
Drone Guard has provided protection for events such as the 2018 G20 Buenos Aires summit. The system was tested successfully at a naval NATO exercise in Portugal and at international airports in Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Lev says the most critical component in Drone Guard is 3D X-band radar that detects and tracks all types of drones without interfering with airport radar systems.
“It sees all movement in the sky and distinguishes drones from birds, for example.”
The multilayered system also includes communications intelligence to “listen in” to communication between the operator and drone; an electro-optical/infrared camera to visualize and classify the drone; and a jammer that neutralizes or takes over the drone and steers it to a designated safe place.
The newest capability will be launching an interception drone from a docking station.
The modular, transportable system can be tailored for each customer – for example, downsized to fit in a backpack or upsized to provide long-range radar for large airports. One command-and-control unit manages the system.
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