Attack of the Drone-Snatching Eagles

Recently, a number of European agencies have started training eagles and other birds of prey to snatch drones from the sky as a defense against criminals, terrorists, or any other drone pilots who deliberately or accidentally invade restricted airspace. In the wrong hands, even small consumer drones can cause serious damage to manned aircraft near airports, be used in terrorist strikes, or cause general havoc, particularly in crowded cities.

The Dutch National Police were the first to use birds of prey, eagles specifically, as a counter-drone measure. They intend to have a trained squadron of eagles ready by this summer to deploy to airports and other sensitive areas where unauthorized drones might cause big problems. The Dutch police chose this low-tech answer due to the renowned aerial hunting prowess of eagles, which can identify drone-size objects from as far away as two miles. Eagles are able to snatch and carry prey weighing up to four pounds, so most popular consumer drones are no problem.

France deploys new force to combat drones - and it has claws

Watch on

First the birds need to be trained to take out threatening drones, however. The Hague-based company, Guard From Above, is working with the Dutch National Police to teach eagles how to identify, close in on, and take out consumer drones using specialized incentive training. Guard From Above trains the birds from a young age to bring the flying machines to the ground intact, rather than ripping them apart in midair, which reduces the chance of hurting people below.

Some have raised concerns that drone-hunting might cause harm to the birds, but the Dutch National Police insist that none of the eagles were hurt during training. Trainers note that scales on the bird’s talons protect them, and are looking into ways to protect them from spinning propellers.

Along with these experiments by the Dutch and French, the United Kingdom is investigating using birds of prey to guard prisons from contraband-carrying drones. Still uncertain, though, is whether these kinds of programs ultimately will prove more successful than technological solutions to identifying and downing rogue drones.

Ed Darack | | READ MORE

Air & Space/Smithsonian contributing editor Ed Darack is the author of The Warriors of Anbar; War Moments; The Final Mission of Extortion 17; Victory Point; and three other books. He is the founder of Darack Research, a company that innovates unmanned systems, which grew out of his July 2014 Air & Space article Build Your Own Drone.