What’s behind the recent reported drone incursions at airports?published at 11:49 BST
11:49 BST
Matt Murphy
BBC Verify senior journalist
Germany’s Munich airport has reopened after several drone sightings forced it to close and cancel more than a dozen flights on Thursday night.
It’s the latest in a series of recent drone incursions across Europe. Last week Denmark blamed a “professional actor” for an incident that shut Copenhagen airport for several hours.
It’s unclear who is behind these events, but Dr Ulrike Franke from the European Council on Foreign Affairs told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that the Munich incident could have been caused by “a capable state actor” or a “hobbyist”.
“We’ve had instances of larger drones in recent days and weeks – and in some instances mothership drones, larger drones which send out smaller drones – flying near critical infrastructure,” she said.
“These are instances where we can be certain these aren’t hobbyists… most likely a state, most likely Russia.
“In the Munich case at this point we don’t have enough information about the type of drones, and how they moved, to give us information as to who was flying them.”
Franke urged airports to equip themselves with anti-drone technology to combat the surge in incursions to airspace. She suggested that to date, officials haven’t “seen the economic need” to invest in the technology.
Image source, EPAImage caption,
Police were seen carrying out patrols of Copenhagen Airport’s perimeter after the reported drone sightings