Failure of anti-drone tests exposes US airport vulnerability

Drones can cause more damage in a collision with an airliner than a similar-sized bird, a 2017 study commissioned by FAA found.

US airports may be just as vulnerable as London’s Gatwick airport to the kind of illegal drone incursions that shut down the UK’s second-busiest hub this week.

Counter-drone technology performed so poorly in US government tests in recent years that the systems couldn’t reliably identify rogue unmanned aircraft, casting doubts on whether there’s a viable short-term solution to the intrusions that repeatedly disrupted the London airport this week.