Francken’s answer came at the request of Green MP Matti Vandemaele, who wanted more explanation about the current drone crisis during question time in Parliament yesterday. The defense minister stated that “counterdrone teams are currently being deployed in various places in the country to secure the infrastructure”.
“It is a matter of conjecture why we were not called”: specialized counter-drone team was not deployed against drones over Zaventem last week
He also confirmed the earlier news from this newspaper that the federal police counterdrone team was not deployed on that particular Tuesday when a large ‘ghost drone’ ravaged the airspace above Zaventem, causing the airport to close for hours. “The federal police drone team was initially not involved in this operation, as their capacity was not offered by the federal police,” the defense minister clarified.
Bell
The answer did not meet with approval from Vandemaele. “I have to say this. You state again that the federal police, more specifically the special counterdrone unit, has not volunteered. It is a problem that there is a service in our security architecture that was established precisely to carry out such interventions, but that apparently doesn’t ring a bell with anyone,” was his response.
The counterdrone team or the so-called C-UAS team of the federal police has been around for four years. It has about thirty certified agents, two antennas to detect enemy drones, four jammers to block them and three net launchers to take them out of the air.
Malicious drones
On the federal police website, the organization recommends the C-UAS team as follows. “Responsible for the detection, identification and neutralization of malicious or hostile drones during risk events. Team C-UAS, which is specially trained in aviation safety, provides technological support in the fight against drones that could pose a serious threat to public safety.”
Why the federal police “did not offer the anti-drone team” help, as Francken now states, still remains unclear. The question has been asked to the federal police, but so far there has been no answer.