Paris races to perfect counter-drone tech for Summer Olympics

Are authorities in France at risk of not having new counter-drone tech available when the Paris Summer Olympics begin in July? That’s the sound of recent media reports that weigh in hard on spooky UAV themes, while often giving lighter treatment less dramatic aspects of the story.

The most recent wave of worrisome-sounding reports came this month from a much-cited Agence France-Presse (AFP) story, which pulls together an array of strands to weave its troubling tapestry: French leaders are fretting over the tardy preparations to have a major, domestically produced counter-drone platform ready in time for the Summer Games. The biggest worry in that, it notes, is the planned Opening Ceremony featuring barges ferrying athletes down the Seine as hundreds of thousands of spectators cheer from the banks. 

Interior Ministry officials have said terror attacks by Islamist extremists are the biggest threat to that showcase event – and wider Olympics – with strikes carried out using UAVs being their largest fear.

Were that not bad enough, AFP notes purported development delays with the counter-drone system contracted to Thales and another large defense group recently lead conservative Senator Cédric Perrin to lament it “isn’t up to snuff.” More recently, a parliamentary report on the readiness of anti-UAV platforms for the Summer Olympics in Paris was kept confidential – rather than released publicly as planned – reportedly due its detailing of the many holes still remaining.

“It’s unfortunate that (decision) became public knowledge, because contrary to the official line, not everything is functioning as we would have liked,” AFP quoted an unnamed high-ranking security official. 

“Yes, it does not operate perfectly… (but) yes, the system is perfectible,” another unidentified source told AFP with a defensive tone. “The problem is with only three months of margin for maneuver, things are tight.”

The official line wasn’t only the one that had been leading the public to believe France was on schedule to have tech ready for zapping any craft unauthorized over Paris this summer.

A major media demonstration of the developing platform was organized earlier this month by French military units involved in securing the Paris skies during the Olympics. Resulting reports marveled at the counter-drone tech using a “two-kilowatt (kW) laser beam that brought down the device like a stone.” While that and other coverage sounded reassuring, AFP’s recent, troubling story is gaining more traction.

That’s perhaps understandable in the wake of the March 25 terror strike on Moscow that killed at least 137 people. The aerial aspect of the terrorist threat to the Paris Olympics, meanwhile, is being amplified with reminders of how often and effectively small UAVs have been deployed in Ukraine.

But the AFP story also repeats a laughably inflated official Senate estimate on the abundance of consumer drones in France available for potential attacks. That parliamentary report claims the country’s fleet of off-the-shelf, privately-owned UAVs passed from “400 000 in 2017 to 2,5 million today” – a figure AFP rounds up to “three million” for good measure. That would put France’s total well beyond the Federal Aviation Administration’s estimate for the far larger US.

 In fact, a recent effort by a specialized publication reported – citing information provided by French aviation authorities themselves – there are just 119,000 registered UAV operators in the nation, plus 44,7000 who’ve passed the required online training and permitting exam. 

Each of those would need to own nearly 20 drones to reach the three million figure. Meanwhile, none of the 163,700 registered French pilots ever fly in or around Paris, which has a de facto permanent no-fly ban in place.

Clearly, the much larger potential threat comes from unknown pilots procuring drones that can’t be traced to them – and, of course, some of those operators being bent on flying them on violent missions. By contrast, it would only take one of those people to succeed in order to inflict considerable carnage on the Paris Games. So while doubtless over-dramatized, the AFP report isn’t unfounded.

So what is France doing in its counter-drone race with time? For now, officials are staying the course in hoping the Thales platform will be finished for testing and deployment before the Summer Games open in July. At the same time, they’re planning to have existing anti-UAV tech already in use at airports, around stadiums, and over major Paris cites re-deployed for use in protecting from attacks.

Meaning, in the end, having a brand-spanking-new counter-drone system in time for the Summer Olympics may take a backseat to having proven, existing anti-UAV platforms in place to protect the event and its participants in the same way they already Paris and its residents day in and out.

Image: Chris Karidis/Unsplash