France Deploys Anti-Drone Specialists in Levant

The French military has stationed anti-drone specialists to neutralise unmanned aircraft as part of its Operation Chammal to contain Islamic State (IS)’s expansion in Iraq and Syria.

“We are responsible for ensuring security of the living quarters of soldiers deployed as part of Operation Chammal. Drones are light and discreet devices that represent a fairly recent threat, since in addition to being used for intelligence purposes, they can also be hijacked for malicious and terrorist purposes- drones can be used to transport explosives or can be used to collide with an aircraft,” French Defense Ministry said in a statement last week.

To carry out their mission, these airmen have telemetry and infrared binoculars, a device for jamming GPS signals and shotguns with specific cartridge. “In the event of a real attack, the protection and intervention groups (GPI) and the team involved in neutralization, removal, destruction of explosives (NEDEx) would be involved. One of the teams is trained in drone remote piloting, which would allow us to dispel doubt about a trapped drone by sending our own to analyze it. Although no attack has yet taken place, the terrorist threat does not abate,” the ministry added.