Airports may have to be fitted with precision turrets to bring down suspected Russian drones, experts said last night. It follows the latest drone incursion in Denmark, which shut a second airport in a matter of days.
Drone activity at Aalborg led to at least three flights being diverted, with officials saying the Danish Armed Forces were affected because the airport is also a military base. North Jutland Police said they were monitoring the situation closely but would not say how many drones were involved.
The incident came days after Copenhagen’s Kastrup airport was forced to close because of a drone incursion described by Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen as “the most severe attack on Danish infrastructure so far”.
That attack was blamed on Russia, which has increased destabilising hybrid attacks on Nato members in recent weeks.
Last week Estonia and Poland requested consultations with other Nato members after separate airspace violations. Romania also said Russian drones had breached its airspace.
Danish defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen called the incursion a “hybrid attack” by a “professional actor” but stopped short of directly blaming Russia.
The drones were launched “locally” – a possible reference to Ukrainian drones fired from Russian soil that have damaged Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure.
Last night Justin Crump of the Sibylline strategic risk group said Russian involvement was “likely”.
“If you look at the greater context, the fundamental point is Russia is seeking to destabilise our internal political structures,” he said.
The drones used in the latest attack were quite large and expensive, indicating the involvement of Russian agents – though unless you capture the drones and trace them back, there is rarely proof.”
He said the only viable solution may be mini “drone walls” around airports.
“The eventual conclusion is that we have to have piercings point defences around airfields. The only things really effective in moderate altitude bands are net guns possibly guided precision turrets which fire 30 mm rounds.
“Jamming, which is very effective on the battlefield, would not work because it would cripple everything that flies.”
