Army pulls out of Gatwick following conclusion of drone incident

The British army has withdrawn the "military capability" it deployed in late December during an incident in which drones brought London's Gatwick Airport to a standstill.

The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence said its presence was no longer needed following Gatwick's heavy investment in commercial equipment capable of dealing with such threats.

"The military capability has now been withdrawn from Gatwick," the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. "The armed forces stand ever-ready to assist, should a request for support be received."

Around 1,000 flights into and out of the airport were cancelled between Dec 19 and Dec 21 after drones were reported to have been seen flying over the runway. During the 36 hours of chaos, more than 140,000 passengers were hit by delays or cancellations.

Gatwick said after the incident it had spent 5 million pounds ($6.3 million) on state-of-the-art equipment to ensure such an incident is not repeated, although the airport has refused to talk about specifics.

The BBC reported that the anti-drone equipment deployed by the army was likely to have been an Israeli-developed system that jams communications between drones and operators.

During the incident in December, police focused on attempting to find the person controlling the drones and said at the time that the investigation was "painstaking" because "each time we believe we get close to the operator, the drone disappears; when we look to reopen the airfield, the drone reappears".

On Dec 23, police arrested a couple on suspicion of piloting the drones but subsequently said the man and woman were not responsible and released them without charge.

Chief Constable Giles York subsequently said some of the drones reported at the time by the 115 witnesses who contacted investigators may have belonged to the police.

The anti-drone system that Gatwick has since deployed may, according to The Evening Standard newspaper, have a range of several miles and use four radars to give 360-degree detection and protection.

The risk to aircraft from objects in their flight path is well documented. In January 2009, a US Airways flight ditched in the Hudson River after it was struck by a Canada goose shortly after taking off from La Guardia airport in New York City. The 155 people on board escaped with their lives.

Pilots have called for more research into the likely outcome of a drone striking an aircraft.

The International Air Transport Association said after the Gatwick incident: "Safety is the number one priority of the air transport industry and the commendable patience of passengers is appreciated while the authorities ensure that there is no threat from drone activity to civil aircraft."