It is incredible the judgement wasn't made that this was an army job at the beginning. The Police have a role in trying to find out who did it!
In the first instant the police had to establish if the law had been broken and it was a criminal act. There was no need to involve the armed a forces initially as previous similar incidents had been quickly dealt with.
The request by the police to involve the army was then made around midday so I'm not sure that they could have acted any differently.
Undoubtedly lessons have been learnt for the future and contingency plans will be beefed up.
The airport was closed for hours by then- the police are not equipped to deal with drones. What you have is people who can make quick decisions and people who can't. I think a perfect example is football managers. Some perfectly good ones may see they need to do something but delay as they are not sure what to do. Others will say, this isn't working and make the changes immediately. I think when people get these important jobs, the ability to think fast and make the right calls in those circumstances may not be given the priority it needs to be.
I'm no expert* but couldnt they send up another drone with a small explosive charge attached and detonate it when it's close, assuming it's over the empty airport grounds?
* to be clear, i know fuck all about anything
These things move fast and with incredible agility. With that in mind, trying to get close enough to a another drone being controlled by somebody remotely would be nigh on impossible.
The solution is some form of jamming the control signals without affecting other systems and I'm sure that's what the Army did last night. Chris Grayling on the radio this morning was very deliberate in saying he couldn't talk about what the Army used.
To be fair Chris Grayling isn’t too keen to talk about anything within in his remit (oops am I allowed to say that on this thread).
The airport was closed for hours by then- the police are not equipped to deal with drones. What you have is people who can make quick decisions and people who can't. I think a perfect example is football managers. Some perfectly good ones may see they need to do something but delay as they are not sure what to do. Others will say, this isn't working and make the changes immediately. I think when people get these important jobs, the ability to think fast and make the right calls in those circumstances may not be given the priority it needs to be.
In practice the wheels of motion for the law enforcement agencies to involve the military don't work that swiftly unless it is something like a major terror threat was likely and from the news updates this was discounted.
If similar previous incidents had been satisfactorily dealt with, why would you need to press the panic button without fully assessing the situation? You wouldn't and hindsight is a wonderful thing.
As soon as the request was made and considered, the military were then deployed. Lessons will have no doubt been learnt and contingency plans strengthened for the future.
The airport had been closed for hours. Our military are trained to respond quickly, they have to be.
Your last sentence is basically right, contingency plans will be strengthened, my point is they should have already been stronger for an occurrence that would have been on everybody's radar as a possibility. I think the affected passengers have been let down badly here.
I agree the wheels of motion didn't work that quickly - I am saying they should!
I realise I was personally not affected by the incident in any shape or form....so it’s easy to say I agree with the actions that were taken. Shitfest for all those who have had their plans disrupted. I regularly watch the National Geographic “Air Crash Investigations” series on TV and when you see the 1001 weird and unlikely ways that accidents can take place you will realise the super sensitivity of both Gatwick, The Civil Aviation Authorities and all concerned to shut down. Those who thought it was overreaction need to seriously think again. A sobering thought, but these ‘openly on the market’ drones are also capable of carrying an explosive payload with the capability of bringing down the largest of passenger airliners! God forbid.
The airport had been closed for hours. Our military are trained to respond quickly, they have to be.
Your last sentence is basically right, contingency plans will be strengthened, my point is they should have already been stronger for an occurrence that would have been on everybody's radar as a possibility. I think the affected passengers have been let down badly here.
I agree the wheels of motion didn't work that quickly - I am saying they should!
They did though, military action (shooting them down) was considered very early on, ruled out initially and then later when the first options weren't working it was approved. Without knowing exactly what the rationale was we can't judge if it was a good call or a bad one.
I'm no expert* but couldnt they send up another drone with a small explosive charge attached and detonate it when it's close, assuming it's over the empty airport grounds?
* to be clear, i know fuck all about anything
These things move fast and with incredible agility. With that in mind, trying to get close enough to a another drone being controlled by somebody remotely would be nigh on impossible.
The solution is some form of jamming the control signals without affecting other systems and I'm sure that's what the Army did last night. Chris Grayling on the radio this morning was very deliberate in saying he couldn't talk about what the Army used.
Chris Grayling couldn’t find his own arse with both hands.
How about all passenger aircraft are (without further delay), modified with front and rear gunnery turrets. Simples......”drone at four o’clock Ginger. .....Permission to engage.”
I'm no expert* but couldnt they send up another drone with a small explosive charge attached and detonate it when it's close, assuming it's over the empty airport grounds?
* to be clear, i know fuck all about anything
These things move fast and with incredible agility. With that in mind, trying to get close enough to a another drone being controlled by somebody remotely would be nigh on impossible.
The solution is some form of jamming the control signals without affecting other systems and I'm sure that's what the Army did last night. Chris Grayling on the radio this morning was very deliberate in saying he couldn't talk about what the Army used.
The Taliban are a major pain in the arse with their own drones in Afghanistan, snooping on NATO troops all day every day. There's a lot of development going on in this area at the moment as the drone gives opposing forces cheap and easy access to air power. I always found it ironic that NATO would unleash $20,000 missiles at blokes in sandals armed with AK47s. We spend gazillions on state of the art stealth fighter jets but the enemy can have a huge effect with nothing more than a £50 drone.
The US have been trialling an anti drone, focused electro magnetic weapon which is basically a jammer that can be fired from the shoulder like a rifle. Even in a war zone, good old-fashioned shooting at them isn't really the answer.
Tracking them is difficult. The radar at airports is designed to monitor commercial airliners. Controllers only see a graphical representation of that radar information, all other clutter and small objects are filtered out. Trying to interpret a raw radar return and control aircraft at the same time is too difficult. A separate radar system would be required to track drones, similar to the specialist counter-mortar radar they have set up at places like Kandahar airfield. Who's paying for that?
I'm no expert* but couldnt they send up another drone with a small explosive charge attached and detonate it when it's close, assuming it's over the empty airport grounds?
* to be clear, i know fuck all about anything
These things move fast and with incredible agility. With that in mind, trying to get close enough to a another drone being controlled by somebody remotely would be nigh on impossible.
The solution is some form of jamming the control signals without affecting other systems and I'm sure that's what the Army did last night. Chris Grayling on the radio this morning was very deliberate in saying he couldn't talk about what the Army used.
The Taliban are a major pain in the arse with their own drones in Afghanistan, snooping on NATO troops all day every day. There's a lot of development going on in this area at the moment as the drone gives opposing forces cheap and easy access to air power. I always found it ironic that NATO would unleash $20,000 missiles at blokes in sandals armed with AK47s. We spend gazillions on state of the art stealth fighter jets but the enemy can have a huge effect with nothing more than a £50 drone.
The US have been trialling an anti drone, focused electro magnetic weapon which is basically a jammer that can be fired from the shoulder like a rifle. Even in a war zone, good old-fashioned shooting at them isn't really the answer.
Tracking them is difficult. The radar at airports is designed to monitor commercial airliners. Controllers only see a graphical representation of that radar information, all other clutter and small objects are filtered out. Trying to interpret a raw radar return and control aircraft at the same time is too difficult. A separate radar system would be required to track drones, similar to the specialist counter-mortar radar they have set up at places like Kandahar airfield. Who's paying for that?
I'm no expert* but couldnt they send up another drone with a small explosive charge attached and detonate it when it's close, assuming it's over the empty airport grounds?
* to be clear, i know fuck all about anything
Chris Grayling on the radio this morning was very deliberate in saying he couldn't talk about what the Army used.
I'm no expert* but couldnt they send up another drone with a small explosive charge attached and detonate it when it's close, assuming it's over the empty airport grounds?
* to be clear, i know fuck all about anything
Chris Grayling on the radio this morning was very deliberate in saying he couldn't talk about what the Army used.
Is this where the government let’s slip they put another drone up in the sky around Gatwick for two days to scare off the other drone and the tactic worked all the time it was there ?
How about all passenger aircraft are (without further delay), modified with front and rear gunnery turrets. Simples......”drone at four o’clock Ginger. .....Permission to engage.”
So, Ginger's the rear gunner. I don't think you can get away with that these days ;-)))
Police hunting those responsible for the Gatwick drones chaos have identified "persons of interest", the BBC understands. The UK's second busiest airport has reopened after drones flying over the airfield closed it for more than a day. Police are exploring "a number of lines of inquiry", including environmental activism and "high-end criminal behaviour".
Comments
The request by the police to involve the army was then made around midday so I'm not sure that they could have acted any differently.
Undoubtedly lessons have been learnt for the future and contingency plans will be beefed up.
If similar previous incidents had been satisfactorily dealt with, why would you need to press the panic button without fully assessing the situation? You wouldn't and hindsight is a wonderful thing.
As soon as the request was made and considered, the military were then deployed. Lessons will have no doubt been learnt and contingency plans strengthened for the future.
Your last sentence is basically right, contingency plans will be strengthened, my point is they should have already been stronger for an occurrence that would have been on everybody's radar as a possibility. I think the affected passengers have been let down badly here.
I agree the wheels of motion didn't work that quickly - I am saying they should!
I regularly watch the National Geographic “Air Crash Investigations” series on TV and when you see the 1001 weird and unlikely ways that accidents can take place you will realise the super sensitivity of both Gatwick, The Civil Aviation Authorities and all concerned to shut down.
Those who thought it was overreaction need to seriously think again.
A sobering thought, but these ‘openly on the market’ drones are also capable of carrying an explosive payload with the capability of bringing down the largest of passenger airliners!
God forbid.
Simples......”drone at four o’clock Ginger. .....Permission to engage.”
The Taliban are a major pain in the arse with their own drones in Afghanistan, snooping on NATO troops all day every day. There's a lot of development going on in this area at the moment as the drone gives opposing forces cheap and easy access to air power. I always found it ironic that NATO would unleash $20,000 missiles at blokes in sandals armed with AK47s. We spend gazillions on state of the art stealth fighter jets but the enemy can have a huge effect with nothing more than a £50 drone.
The US have been trialling an anti drone, focused electro magnetic weapon which is basically a jammer that can be fired from the shoulder like a rifle. Even in a war zone, good old-fashioned shooting at them isn't really the answer.
Tracking them is difficult. The radar at airports is designed to monitor commercial airliners. Controllers only see a graphical representation of that radar information, all other clutter and small objects are filtered out. Trying to interpret a raw radar return and control aircraft at the same time is too difficult. A separate radar system would be required to track drones, similar to the specialist counter-mortar radar they have set up at places like Kandahar airfield. Who's paying for that?
Not meant as political, WTF Barking dogs.
The UK's second busiest airport has reopened after drones flying over the airfield closed it for more than a day.
Police are exploring "a number of lines of inquiry", including environmental activism and "high-end criminal behaviour".
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-46654797