Not only is trying to find a single drone extremely hard, but trying to find the individual(s) who is/are flying the drone is even harder.
Whenever someone decides to defy any notion of common sense and fly their drone near to a major airport, then it is often a commercial pilot who will first spot the device.
Pilots are experts at scanning the skies around them for any objects which might hinder their ability to be able to fly their aircraft safely.
Drones pose a major threat to aircraft because if a drone ends up in the jet engine of a passenger jet, then that engine will quickly cease to function.
You do not have to be an aviation specialist to then understand what could then happen to the aircraft – especially during take-off.
Once the pilot has let Air Traffic Control (ATC) know about the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), then the ATC Tower will alert the airport police and airport security.
Often the sight of police cars driving around the perimeter of the airport will be enough to make the UAV ‘pilot’ see sense and land his/her ‘drone’.
But clearly, in this case, whoever it is that is responsible for the airborne menace has decided to play ‘cat and mouse’ with the police and has thus caused no-end of disruption to tens of thousands of commuters.
So why the military?
The armed forces will be able to use specialist Directional Finding (DF) equipment that will allow them to ‘triangulate’ where the signal that is controlling the drone is coming from.
They will also be able to use high-frequency short-range radar (if needed) to scan the skies and find the drone and then, hopefully, the individuals responsible for flying the drone.
The short range radar at Gatwick Airport MIGHT be able to occasionally get a ‘return’ on the drone, but their equipment will not be configured to specifically look for and track such a small object.
The police, at the moment, simply do not have access to this sort of specialist equipment nor do they have the skills to operate it.
Loads of people have asked ‘why don’t the drones just get shot down?’.
Spotting a small drone in the sky is hard enough. Hitting it with a piece of metal that is flying at close to the speed of sound is even harder.
And remember, what comes up, must come down – the round fired towards the drone can do just as much damage when it lands as when it is fired.
Nets are another option, but then the range of the devices which fire the nets is typically not beyond 10-20 metres.
The Dutch trialled the use of Eagles to take out drones, but we have no such birds which have been trained to do just that.
Jamming equipment is another option, but it will be the military who has access to this sort of equipment.
‘Hijacking’ the signal that controls the drone is also another option.
But it will be the military who will be able to identify the specific frequency that is being used to control the drone before, again, the military can ‘take over’ the drone.
Because of the threat posed by drones in relation to drones which have been made and adapted for the battlefield, the military is the best resource when it comes to actually finding not only the drone, but the irresponsible individual(s) who took it upon themselves to cause so much disruption.
I have no doubt that, in the future, Police Drone Teams will be given the equipment and expertise needed in order to bring down a drone.
It’s just a matter of time.
But that doesn’t help the thousands of people currently stuck at Gatwick Airport.
If you have a story, video or one-off blog that you would like to share with us, then you can contact our team of former emergency services & armed forces personnel either through our Facebook page, via twitter ( @ES_News_ ) or you can contact us via email: contact@emergency-services.news
If you would like to write an article that you would like us to share (it can be about anything to do with the emergency services / NHS) whether you serve in the emergency services / NHS or whether you are a member of the public that has had a good experience with the emergency services, then feel free to contact our team; anonymously if you prefer.
We are proud to act as a voice for the Emergency Services & Health Service, with over 450,000 people visiting our website each month.
Before you go...
WE NEED YOUR HELP.Here at Emergency Services News, we aim to tell you stories that the mainstream media are not interested in reporting. Whilst the MSM love to berate and ridicule the emergency services, who is there to report on the realities of serving on the front line?
Emergency Services News is currently a loss-making entity. But our team of volunteers, all former emergency services personnel, do not do it for the money.
We do it because we are sick and tired of the mainstream media constantly trying to undermine the men and women who put their lives on the line to keep you and your family safe.
How many MSM journalists who speak ill of the emergency services have actually dared to don the uniform and risk their own lives to save the life of a complete stranger? If you would like to help back our mission of reporting on fact-based news, then please consider helping to support us financially.
You can support emergency services news from as little as £1. It only takes a minute. Every contribution, however big or small, is vital for our future.
Please help us to continue to highlight the life-saving work of the emergency services, NHS and armed forces by becoming a supporter.