Indian airports, particularly those witnessing heavy air traffic and fall in the 'hyper sensitive' category like Delhi and Mumbai, may soon have drone disabling systems in place. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which is the lead security agency for airports, is testing technology that has the ability to disable rouge drones.
After multiple meetings of the airport security brass over the last few months, authorities felt not just land threats but aerial threats, too, require immediate attention. The civil aviation sector is one area that is witnessing a phenomenal growth and security apparatus needs to expand in tandem.
They felt one of the biggest emerging threat to airport security came from drones—unmanned aerial vehicles which can be used quietly to violate the airspace for subversive activities or cause potential collisions between manned and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Drone sightings in the vicinity of airports, particularly Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport, have increased in recent times putting security agencies in a tizzy. The unchecked proliferation of drones around airports had led to halting of flight operations twice at the Delhi airport in August,causing much embarrassment to agencies handling airport security.
Taking a leaf out of the systems being put in place in countries like the US which started looking at Anti-UAV Defence Systems to scan the airspace for unmanned drones and disable them using radio beams some years back, the CISF has now zeroed down on a few companies—domestic and international—who will be participating in field trials in the next two-threemonths, in stadiums identified by the CISF for this purpose. The CISF will check their capabilities, functional efficacy and easy handling.
Sources in the agency said that once the anti-drone system is in place, it would require training of the CISF personnel or the Air Traffic Controllers (ATC) staff at airports who would be using them . "Once we finalise the technology, it will be decided whether the CISF or the ATC will handle it. But such technology is the need of the hour,'' said a senior official.
While a uniform drone policy is in the works which would make it mandatory to have a licence to fly a drone, it does not talk about any mechanism that can stop a rogue drone after it enters the airspace in the vicinity of the airport causing an air scare or potential risk of collision.
The draft policy, which has been put up by the ministry of civil aviation for public comments before it is sent to the cabinet for approval, says that drones cannot fly within an area of 5km from the airport, within permanent or temporary prohibited or restricted areas; over densely populated areas without prior approval; within 5km radius of Vijay Chowk ; within 50km of the international border; within 500m radius of military installations and strategic locations notified by the MHA and eco-sensitive zones and so on.
Despite these measures being put in place, if a drone is causing a potential security risk, the security agencies at airports, will be able to use their defence systems with in-built electromagnetic systems and radio frequency jammers to stop the object in its tracks and drop it down, without shooting. "Shooting down rogue drones isn't the best way to handle airport security where commercial traffic is heavy. This will be a non-obtrusive way to handle the growing security threat,'' said a CISF official.
Air scares and violation of no flying zones have remained a matter of serious security concern in the capital city which has dealt with such threats year after year. Air planes entering no fly zones used to be a big concern sometime ago but clearly the new security challenge is from unmanned ariel vehicles which the law enforcement agencies are gearing up for.
