SEN. Raffy Tulfo yesterday urged the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to train birds of prey to take down “unfriendly drones” flying within a 10-kilometer radius of airports to prevent possible terrorist attacks.
Tulfo made the pitch after reports said drones carrying bombs were used in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. He broached the idea at the Committee on Public Services hearing on proposed measures to regulate the ownership and operation of drones by private individuals.
Billy Pascua, president and chief executive officer of a company manufacturing lightweight ballistic and blast protection, said birds of prey like eagles are trained in several European countries to intercept and bring back to their base drones flying on restricted zones.
Pascua said these trained birds were even used by airport authorities to divert other birds in formation that may cause “bird strikes.”
Capt. Ian Michael del Castillo, of CAAP’s Aerialworks Certification and Inspection Division, Flight Operations Department, said most drones sold in the country are manufactured by one company that has a “geo-fencing” technology that disables drones on geo-fenced locations.
But the downside of it, he added, is that the geo-fences can be manipulated.
“If majority of the drones here are from DJI, hindi naman sila na makakapag-operate within 10 kilometers. But again, if there’s a will, there’s a way,” Del Castillo said. “There’s a way for people to actually get rid of the geo-fencing through illegal means.”
He said there is another technology that can disable drones flying within a 10-kilometer radius of an airport, but it costs $1 million in monthly subscription.
Tulfo said since it will cost $1 million a month to subscribe to that technology, the CAAP can ask airlines to subsidize the costs since they, too, will benefit from it.
Del Castillo said they would study that option.
In the meantime, Tulfo said it is better if CAAP trained birds of prey to intercept unfriendly drones hovering near airports.
“Bakit hindi kayo mag-train, bakit hindi niyo subukan? Mag-seminar kayo kay Mr. Pascua (Why don’t you train birds, why don’t you try? You can ask Mr. Pascua to do the training),” Tulfo said.
Del Castillo replied: “Yes, your honor, we’ll look into that. We’ll study that further…The CAAP is actively looking into ways and means to safeguard our skies, not only our airports but our skies.”
Pascua agreed with Tulfo, saying that “if your first level of technology solution wouldn’t suffice, therefore, you need a non-technology solution to answer that possible problem. That’s why ginagamit ‘yung birds (the birds are being used).”
