Legislative changes to ensure that drones do not threaten flight safety must be adopted urgently. One of these is to provide for the possibility of neutralising drones that enter the range of national security sites without authorisation.
This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadzhov after a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Interior, State Enterprise BULATSA, SANS, DG CAA, CRC and the operator of Sofia Airport “SOF Connect”. It was devoted to the problems that were highlighted during the unauthorised entry of a drone at Sofia Airport on Friday.
The measures presented by Deputy Prime Minister Karadzhov include the implementation of two systems. One will be built by airport operators and will neutralise such devices when they enter the airport area. The second system will aim to cover a larger perimeter around airports and will be the responsibility of the state.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation Administration is in the process of installing and by the end of the month will have an antenna that will be able to detect over 80% of the drones that operate in the country. It will cover the territory of Sofia.
“It is very important to have better coordination between the different institutions to locate all drones earlier and to counteract violations quickly. At the moment, we do not have a single authority to perform such functions. This also requires legislative changes, which we are starting to work on,” Grozdan Karadzhov said.
“It is currently completely forbidden to interfere with radio transmissions. It doesn't matter if this drone is over a sensitive site, we have no right to shoot it down or jam it,” Karadzhov said. Here, too, a legislative change will be needed.
The deputy prime minister stressed that he expects a proposal with possible technological solutions by Friday and tomorrow he will have a meeting with all airport operators in the country.
