Counter-drone technologies are evolving – but there's no surefire ...
AI Analysis
The article discusses the evolving landscape of counter-drone technologies, highlighting the challenges of effectively countering drone threats. It emphasizes the use of directed energy weapons, radio frequency jamming, and kinetic weapons as primary methods to address these threats.
Key Takeaways
- Counter-drone technologies include directed energy weapons, radio frequency jamming, and kinetic weapons.
- An incident at the El Paso airport demonstrated the potential risks of using anti-drone laser weapons near civilian airspace.
- The threat of drones has been evolving since 2015, with groups like ISIS using modified commercial drones for attacks.
- Critical infrastructure, including airports and power plants, remain vulnerable to drone incursions.
- Regulations exist to prevent drone flights over sensitive areas, but enforcement and prevention remain challenging.
Why It Matters
The strategic significance lies in the increasing need for effective counter-UAS systems to protect critical infrastructure and civilian areas from both negligent and malicious drone operations. As drone technology becomes more accessible, the potential for misuse by terrorist groups or other hostile entities poses a significant security challenge.
Counter-drone technologies are evolving – but there’s no surefire way to defend against drone attacks
A Mexican law enforcement officer demonstrates a drone jammer. [AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo]
When the Federal Aviation Administration [closed the airport in El Paso, Texas], and the airspace around it on Feb. 10, 2026, the cause was, ironically, the nearby use of a technology that could be key to keeping airports and airspace open and safe.
According to news reports, Customs and Border Protection officials used a Department of Defense anti-drone laser weapon to [target what they identified as a drone] crossing the border from Mexico. The FAA closed the El Paso airport and airspace [out of concern] that the weapon inadvertently posed a threat to air traffic in the area.
The targeted drone turned out [to be a party balloon], though U.S. officials claim that drug cartels based in Mexico [have flown drones at the U.S.-Mexico border]. The episode highlights the need for counter-drone technologies, the state-of-the-art systems used by the U.S. military, and the challenges to safely and effectively countering drones, which are also known as uncrewed aircraft systems.
I am an [aerospace engineer] and director of the [Counter-UAS Center of Excellence] at Oklahoma State University, where we develop and evaluate technologies to detect, identify and counter drone threats. The military laser weapon CBP that personnel used near El Paso is an example of one of three categories of counter-drone technologies: directed energy weapons. The other two are radio frequency jamming and kinetic, or physical, weapons like missiles and nets.
The emerging threat
Starting in 2015, the ISIS terrorist group [modified commercial off-the-shelf drones] to drop grenades and mortars on U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, who had little way to combat the threat. This started the trend of modifying consumer drones for military purposes that continues to this day [on the Russian-Ukrainian front lines].
While military bases ostensibly have some protective capabilities, critical U.S. infrastructure such as airports and power plants have few methods to track, let alone defend against, drones. For example, in 2018, traffic at London Gatwick International Airport in the U.K. was shut down for three days [because of an unidentified drone] in the airport’s airspace. Hundreds of flights were canceled, affecting over 100,000 passengers.
Sites such as civilian and military airports, power plants and stadiums are vulnerable to drone flights, both from malicious and negligent operators. Drone flight over open stadiums such as those hosting upcoming FIFA World Cup soccer matches are banned by the FAA. But the ban wouldn’t prevent an errant civilian drone or a drone used in a terrorist attack from entering a stadium and potentially causing serious harm to spectators.
A drone flies near