BRITAIN’S biggest airports are deploying cutting-edge technology to stop hostile drones from causing holiday chaos this summer.
It comes after an explosive-laden drone was found at a German airport this week, which a security expert warns shows Putin is prepared to take down a European passenger jet.
Images of the explosive-laden device were released after the security scare in Germany. Credit: BILD Fotoservice
The counter-drone systems used at major UK airports allow operators to jam or even launch a mid-air cyber attack to seize control of rogue aircraft before they threaten flights.
But with no clear national standard setting out the level of defence ALL airports must have, some transport hubs are vulnerable to attacks.
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Mark Legh-Smith MBE, from specialist counter-drone security company OSL, whose clients include Heathrow, Thorpe Park and Wembley Stadium, explained how his firm combines different technologies to detect and monitor drone activity over areas of interest.
By integrating radio frequency scanners, advanced radar and AI-enabled cameras, their system creates a single moving object on a digital dashboard at a site’s control room.
DRONE CHAOS
Putin ‘prepared to down passenger jet’ after bomb drone found at German airport
DRONE ALERT
First pics of bomb drone found at German airport near Ukrainian cargo jets
A German police investigator works on the tarmac at Leipzig Airport after workers discovered a drone on the tarmac near a Ukrainian aircraft. Credit: Getty
A German police UAV checks an aircraft at Leipzig Airport, where a explosive-laden drone was found on August 5, 2026. Credit: AP
Once the drone enters an ‘alert zone’, operators can jam its controls or even hijack it in mid-air using an “effector” system which overrides the drone pilot’s radio link.
Legh-Smith told The Jattvibe: “So you can either use jamming where you emit with a radio frequency emitter at the same frequency as the drone control. So the drone can’t hear, if you like, it can’t receive its controlling signal anymore.
“Then there’s a cyber version, where it detects the radio link from the controller to the drone. And then it hacks into that link and then replaces the controller. That can enable it to take over the drone and fly it away or land it somewhere for the police to take over it.”
The groundbreaking cyber-takeover technology has only been in operation since around 2019 after Gatwick Airport was brought to a standstill for almost three days following suspected drone sightings.
Passengers at Gatwick airport waiting for their flights following the delays and cancellations brought on by drone sightings near the airfield on December 21, 2018. Credit: PA:Press Association
People stand near equipment on the rooftop of a building at Gatwick Airport after flights resumed following suspected drone sightings. Credit: AFP or licensors
Counter-drone systems were heavily invested in by major airports after more than 1,000 flights were disrupted in December 2018.
But Legh-Smith warned there is “no clear uniform standard” setting out what level of protection Britain’s airports must have, leaving defences to individual operators.
He said: “There’s a lot of variety between different airports about what level of counter-drone system, if any, they have in service.”
Recent FOI responses indicate the number of unidentified drone incursions at UK airports is on the rise, although many are believed to involve nuisance or inexperienced operators.
In 2023, 43 incidents were reported to authorities, rising to 70 the following year and 83 in the first ten months of 2025.
The cutting-edge technology can also pinpoint the drone pilot’s exact location, allowing police to swiftly apprehend them.
After a suspected bomb-fitted drone was discovered near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig Airport on Tuesday night, Legh-Smith said: “This is probably the first time in Western Europe that we’ve seen a drone weaponized and used as the weapon.
He added this marks “quite a serious” escalation.
Vladimir Putin is willing to take down European passenger jets, a security expert warns Credit: AP
Security expert Will Geddes said the terrifying drone breach had “shaken fear across not only militaries and across the world, but also commercial airports“.
And he warned the chilling ordeal proved that Putin is more than capable of using a drone to blow up a passenger plane in Europe.
Geddes told The Jattvibe: “It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
Legh-Smith warned the technology is constantly evolving as hostile actors develop new ways of bypassing existing counter-drone systems, including using 4G and 5G networks instead of traditional radio links.
He said: “If you take, say, the Russian-Ukraine war, new drone types are created monthly… four or five new types of drone [are made] a month to achieve a new method or defeat a new counter-drone system.”
He added: “As a result of that, a counter-drone system also needs to adapt extremely quickly.”
But military experts fear hostile actors could use military-grade aircraft to bring major transport hubs to a halt.
Last month former Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe told The Jattvibe Russia “almost certainly” flew drones over Denmark from a shadow fleet ship in 2025 and warned it was “a mathematical certainty” Britain would eventually face a similar threat.
He said: “They’ll fly drones from a ship into, let’s say Heathrow airspace and shut Heathrow down.”
Asked if the UK was vulnerable to numerous drones flying over the same airspace, Legh-Smith responded: “We are. At some places. Some places would be better prepared for it than others.”
