Politic?

This Is Not Iraq Where Planes Land Under Rocket Bombardment

"We do have persons of interest and we are working through those with our best teams, our best investigators, and there's a huge amount of intelligence that we're trawling through."
"[Measures to tackle the threat include] technical, sophisticated options to detect and mitigate drone incursions, all the way down to less sophisticated options -- even shotguns would be available to officers should the opportunity present itself]."
Steve Barry, assistant chief constable of Sussex police

"This is an unprecedented event. There's not been anything like this anywhere in the world."
"[Additional] military capabilities [and a range of security measures are in place]."
"[The airport is safe for flights though the drone operator/s not yet apprehended]."
"[The drone flights were] highly targeted [designed to deliver maximum Christmas disruption]."
Chris Grayling, Transport Secretary, London

"This is the second time that my plans have been altered."
"I was supposed to fly out at 9 a.m. this morning and now it looks like I won't be flying out on the 9 p.m. It's horrendous -- hundreds of thousands of people's lives are being affected."
Andrew Duffield, impact investigator, London

The theory that police in London have arrived at is that there could be more than one drone involved, confusing authorities and making it all the more difficult for police to locate the handler. Britain's Transport Secretary mused it could be a lone-wolf eco-warrior event, but senior detectives have not entirely ruled out that behind the drone attack that has shut down Gatwick Airport at the busiest air traffic time of year could be a foreign state.

The assumption has been made by authorities that the drone had undergone modification with the "intent of causing disruption", as they peruse CCTV coverage in an effort to accurately identify the make and model of the drone. In fact the arrogance of the culprit who took to flying the drone directly up to the air traffic control tower to taunt airport staff, circling the drone around the building while flashing its lights may just have given authorities a leg up on identifying the drone pilot.

In "buzzing the tower" on Friday, a detailed description of the drone resulted in experts being able to determine make and model of the machine, available only from a handful of locations in the United Kingdom. A short list of potential culprits was accordingly drawn up by detectives. The result of which was that two suspects were detained and are being questioned, while a wider hunt is still ongoing. The two arrested for suspected "criminal use of drones" took place around 10 p.m. on Friday night.

The middle-aged arrested couple from Crawley remain in custody. "Our investigations are still ongoing, and our activities at the airport continue to build resilience to detect and mitigate further incursions from drones, by deploying a range of tactics. The arrests we have made are a result of our determination to keep the public safe from harm, every line of inquiry will remain open to us until we are confident that we have mitigated further threats to the safety of passengers", explained Sussex Police Superintendent James Collis.

According to Sussex police, roughly 50 drone sightings between 9:07 p.m. Wednesday and 4:25 p.m. Thursday were seen altogether. The military is now on site with RAF troops taking up position on the roof of the south terminal. Initially a pair of drones disrupted travel for over 120,000 people over the course of a thirty-six hour period. Anti-drone technologies have been deployed and the airport declared flight-safe, though the mystery of the drones' handlers and their end-purpose has not yet been entirely cleared up.

As far as preparedness for emergency situations goes, British authorities have not distinguished themselves in this particular instance. Reaction was slow and disorganized. The expert professionals available to them were not contacted as readily as they should have been. The chaos that ensued demonstrated just how vulnerable Western countries' routine expectations can be to even such a casual mischief as the use of forbidden drones in an air-protected site can be. The immense cost in total of this shut-down of air traffic has far-reaching consequences.

It might be a valuable lesson in catch-up for all concerned if the situation is taken as seriously as it should be. The consequences that will ensue, though costly, are nowhere near as catastrophic as they might have been if drones equipped with incendiary devices, bombs or other lethal weapons were to have been used on flights entering or exiting the airport. Much less a far more sophisticated device such as a miniaturized electromagnetic bomb.