Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Brazilian Drone Event Highlights Need for Creative Solutions
Addressing threats will require a multipronged approach.

Brazilian airspace control organization DECEA kicked off its “First Antidrone Technology Symposium” May 13, with DECEA director Lt. General Jeferson Domingues de Freitas calling for “powerful and intelligent solutions to problems caused by malice or neglect.” Regarding the drone threat, he identified the need to “detect, identify, [and] mitigate, preferably in single application.” A range of local and foreign experts agreed that there is no “magic bullet” against drone incursions anywhere, that electronics-intensive airports pose special challenges, and evolving drone technology requires evolving countermeasures. Drones can be detected with the right mix of sensors for the situation, but responses such as jamming are limited by the need to affect only the drone, and by existing legislation that predates the drone threat.