If they're detectable they can be targeted; counter-drones for sure (which are also very fast), and there's automated rifle targeting systems specifically designed to target and shoot down drones (e.g. https://www.smart-shooter.com/). I'm confident that a system of automated turrets on and around an airbase could be set up. If shooting a gun near civilians is an issue, these don't even need to shoot bullets.
But of course, electronic countermeasures / jamming should be attempted first, so they can be recovered intact and traced.
I think the issue is that you can't really use counter-drones or automatic weapon systems at an airport due to the threat they pose to the airports operations (automatic rifle systems at civilian airports, which are the ones targeted, wouldn't fly in Germany).
The same is true for jamming, which sounds like a bad idea at an active airport, although targetted jamming will probably work. Not sure how quickly such a system can be deployed however.
So that means you need to wait until operations have paused at which point the drone has already disappeared.
I fell like tracking the drone to identify the operator with strong zoom cameras mounted on the airport might work though. At least some commercial systems seem to use this approach: https://www.dedrone.com/industry/airports
Jammers work pretty well. I would expect most large airports would have a defense response. They would have the tools setup to one instantly identify and track said drones come within the space and two have the tools like the portable jammers to “shoot” it down. These tools are not that expensive and exist from multiple vendors.
I would have expected this to be table stakes at running large busy airports.
On publics airports? Where planes have to land all the time? Can they be pinpointed exactly on one specific target without disturbing the others? And this is assuming there even is a remote-control to jam.
Yup. At least in the prior case this year the airports all shutdown. I see no reason you should not be able to quickly react to a scenario like this? Most European airports have some sort of federal response in or near the airport anyway. Not that big leap to think you should be able to jump on it.
Civilian airports can "shut down" by telling all traffic to (glibly) find other things to do. The traffic is still around. How resistant is all this traffic to jamming? and what kind of jamming? You can probably experiment with that around an isolated military airport. Perhaps. "Perhaps" because you still have civilian traffic in line of sight. I don't know that it's an easy decision to screw around with jamming around a crowded civilian airport.
What you can certainly double down on is tracking and close to the ground monitoring. And it would be surprising if this did not give results (over hundreds of sightings) as to who is launching them and recovering some hardware. Drones fall off pretty easily and it might be hard to repeatedly recover drones without getting caught if there is a surge of police around.
The jammer argument is fair and I just assumed since other airports have different levels of counter measures that this is a possibility. These are targeted shots of jamming with distances that commercial flights should not be in.
But yes detection is key and surprising airports don’t already have this. This is not an exactly new phenomenon.
How quickly can you deploy a portable jammer? The drone might have disappeared until you have done so already. So you definitelly need automated systems for detection and targetting, which will probably take time until they are widely available.
They make hand helds that can be used without human LOS with something like 3km range. You don’t definitely need automated systems but obviously that would be probably more bullet proof.
It is but I would hope these entities are trying at least something and those jammers are cheap.
In Paris they developed an electronic barrier wall for drones. Yes maybe these are autonomous enough that when the link is cut they continue on their mission but I think something is better than nothing.
Once a drone has been spotted notifying the correct person and getting the drone started would take a few minutes I assume.
Furthermore you can't really deploy a drone at an airport while it is still active, which is the reason they are banned from operating there in the first place.
From the other comments I believe that tracking to identify the operator and launch site together with automated targetted jamming are the most effective solution. I don't know if such a system exists already and if it is quick enough to react without interferring with airport operations.
if the downward facing radar sees them then it's already too late -- that drone gonna hit something or it's dropped its payload.
a couple of RPG sized rounds dropped from 10000 ft up could easily close runways and shutdown an airport for hours. hell just being there and being UFO could lead to all sorts of flight re-routing and chaos
Payload? You don’t need actual explosives to cause disruption, and for a state-sponsored actor to use them would be an act of war. The perfect being the enemy of the good here, provisioning for less hostile cases seems eminently sensible.
This is not an issue for the Government though. They can change the laws. That takes time and due process of course. But thats what the German government is doing [0]
But of course, electronic countermeasures / jamming should be attempted first, so they can be recovered intact and traced.