Page 38 - Security Today, May/June 2021

Low Altitude, High Risk Unmanned aerial aircraft endanger incoming flights
BDy Jeffrey Starr
rones present a significant risk to aircraft during take- offs and landings – low altitude maneuvering – ac- cording to an October study
from the Canada National Research Coun- cil’s Aerospace Research Center. Whether a drone is piloted by a malicious operator or a careless hobbyist, airport safety and security staff are facing a formidable challenge that we can call “low altitude, high risk.”
TAKEOFFS ARE
GETTING SHUT DOWN
Following 9/11, airport security was hyper- focused on human threats: shoe bombers, hijackers, terrorists, etc. While this threat unfortunately remains, in more recent years the airspace above and adjacent to airports has also become a massive and vulnerable soft spot that continues to be punctured by unmanned aircraft systems that endanger aircrafts and civilian passengers.
Since the well-publicized event at Gat- wick Airport in London during the holi- day season of 2018, when reports of rogue drone sightings near the runway sent air traffic at the UK’s second-busiest airport to a screeching halt, a staggering number of similar incidents have been reported around the world.
Airports in cities across the globe, from Dublin to Sydney and Newark, have all grounded aircraft and closed airspace be- cause of rogue drones. There was a fright- ening near miss in September 2020. An EasyJet plane carrying 186 passengers and traveling at 320 miles per hour just after leaving the Manchester, UK airport, near- ly collided with a recklessly piloted drone, according to MSN.
A report by the UK Airprox Board (UKAB), which investigates near misses, rated it as the most dangerous “Category A” incident. This means there was a seri- ous risk of collision.
In an article about the incident, Man- chester Evening News noted, “It was one of eight near-misses between aircraft and drones or suspected drones featured in the UKAB’s latest monthly report.”
The threat continues to grow globally. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legisla- tion that would enable the departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security
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to collaborate with private companies on counter-small, unmanned aerial system (C- sUAS) efforts.
“Drones already benefit this nation in so many ways, and I know Americans will keep coming up with new ways for them to help us,” Lee said. “Unfortunately, there are also those who use this technology for mali- cious purposes, and law enforcement needs the manpower to counter this threat.”
As drones become more accessible and ever cheaper, the potential risk of a rogue drone disrupting or shutting down airport traffic entirely increases exponentially. For small regional airports without the resourc- es of major global hubs – law enforcement, human security resources, expensive radars, etc. – the threat is even more acute. Auton- omous technology that can detect and then handle (or “mitigate”) airborne threats in a safe manner is crucial.
UNDERSTANDING THE THREAT
Drone threats to airports can be broken down into three distinct categories.
• Collision
• Attack
• surveillance or espionage
In each case, drones present a high
Lukas Gojda/Shutterstock.com
risk at low altitude, because planes have little maneuverability when taking off and landing.
Airport security and safety staff far too often focus on numbers, thinking, “How many types of drones do I have to mitigate against?” As a result, organizations end up getting scrambled. Just like with any other threat, the best strategy is to prioritize and focus.
In this case, long-range, high payload capacity drones pose the most acute threat. Unlike smaller drones, they endanger air- ports because they can fly far enough to get close to planes and they can carry big payloads, including explosives.
Long-range, heavy payload drones are mid- to large-size drones that can fly several miles per trip, with the ability to carry up to 10 pounds/4.5 kilometers, or more. These drones use long distance radio communica- tion protocols to fly long distances, while transmitting telemetry and high-resolution video back to their remote controller.
The long-range drone market is current- ly dominated by a single vendor, SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd. (known as DJI), that possesses a large share of the United States and global market share.
DRONES