Military solution to the airport drone problem (Gatwick)

ohan_qwe

Junior Member
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Someone managed to shutdown an UK airport with a "industrial drone". Assuming that the drone operator is a professional with a tailored drone for this purpose, what options are there to take it down. Does IRST/EOTS work on small drones and are there any other way to detect a 20kg drone flying in treetop height.

What ways are there to disable the drone when found?There where a discussion on reddit on sniper vs shotgun where shotgun lacked range and the snipers could inflict collateral damage. I think that a traditional airbust AA gun or xm25 with timed/proximity fuse would work best.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Some radars and IRST would work assuming a commercial drone.
But then again so would the naked eye.
Could also try and locate by Radio direction finding. Which could also hunt down the operator and take the drone down.

Now how to take it down?
If you arrest the operator that would do it but lacking that there are two options. Destroy or capture.
Because this is supposed to be a commercial drone you don't need to go to destroy. Destroy is more for situations where you fear that the drone is a weapon. A suicide drone.
In that situation the drone has a bomb on it so capture is a great risk.
So depending on size small arms would work. Or a larger weapon (XM25 is out of the picture). Like a antiair gun or missile or just a high powered laser.
However this isn't a battle field and it's believed to be a commercial drone. This is where capture comes in.
Capture can be kinetic in the form of a net gun, or a large bird (actually a bad idea) or a larger drone or a electronic attack. The latter has become more popular where in gun shaped jammers are aimed at the drone and cause it to go stupid and land.
 

ohan_qwe

Junior Member
The authorities believes that the drone is bigger and more sophisticated than a commercial drone. They also think that the operator is some kind of professional as they haven't manage to disable the drone or capture the operator after more than 24 hours at a big airport. I'm by no means an EW expert but i think that jammers is for commercial drones and it would be fairly simple to say build a drone with gyro navigation to avoid jamming.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
@1500 hours (3pm) GMT operations at the airport resumed no word on if the culprit was found. Reports are that up to 4 drones were seen operating around the airport.
 

SteelBird

Colonel
I think the most straight forward solution is using a sniper rifle to take it down if they don't mind the gun sound (or they can use sound suppressor) in the airport. The gun sound can also send message to the perpetrators that this is a very serious case and you are really angry with that.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
I think the most straight forward solution is using a sniper rifle to take it down if they don't mind the gun sound (or they can use sound suppressor) in the airport. The gun sound can also send message to the perpetrators that this is a very serious case and you are really angry with that.
The Issue there is that snipers take time to line up and set up with a Quad drone they can hover and suddenly start moving with sharp changes in direction.
 

N00813

Junior Member
Registered Member
Also, projectile weapons risk the projectile penetrating through the drone and hitting someone beyond the target. Low risk but still a risk.
 
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