French authorities Tuesday were trying to hunt down the pilots of drones that were spotted flying over Paris landmarks and high-security buildings including the U.S. embassy.
The small, remotely-controlled flying objects were seen overnight Monday to Tuesday over the U.S. embassy and nearby Interior Ministry, as well as over the Eiffel tower nearly 2 miles to the west and Place de la Bastille over 2.5 miles to the east.
The Paris prosecutor has asked French police to open an investigation as flying drones over urban areas is banned in France, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor said.
Operating a drone illegally carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a €75,000 (£55,000) fine.It isn’t the first time France has been rattled by suspicious drone flights. In October last year, highly-secured nuclear power stations operated by power utility Electricité de France SA were also buzzed by mysterious drones. Last month, a drone was spotted flying briefly over the Élysée Palace, President François Hollande ’s official residence.
An official at the U.S. embassy declined to comment on the drone flights.
Police have no evidence to explain the purpose of the flights over Paris, a police officer said. The authorities don’t know how many drones were involved or whether there was any coordination between the flights, he said.
Christophe Naudin, an air security expert, said those behind the flights were trying to “demonstrate how the authorities are incapable of protecting people”.
At least five drones were sighted by police in the early hours of Tuesday over the US embassy, the Eiffel Tower, the president’s official residence, the Elysée Palace, the Invalides military museum and the Bastille area, which is both residential and commercial.
Sources close to the investigation said those responsible for the flights over Paris could also have been behind drones spotted flying over 17 nuclear power plants in France since October.
Police failed to identify the operators of the flights last night or intercept the drones, described as standard lightweight commercial models of pilotless, remote-controlled aircraft incapable of carrying explosives or causing significant damage if crashed into a building.
Mr Naudin said it was almost impossible to intercept a drone over a built-up area.
“The means available are extremely limited,” he said. “You can’t shoot down a drone in a city in case a stray bullet hits a building or someone standing on a balcony.”
He said drones could carry infra-red cameras able to take pictures at night, but he added that the value of such images for anyone carrying out reconnaissance to plan an attack would be minimal.
“There wouldn’t be any interest in taking infra-red pictures of the American embassy at night,” he said.
“The aim of these flights may simply be to demonstrate that the authorities are incapable of responding to these threats, which could become real in a few years,” he said. “Drones are not a problem today but in a few years they will be, when drone technology develops and they will have much more capacity to carry things like explosives.”
The security forces are developing electronic systems to intercept drones. Police said a “working group” of 10 officers specialised in aviation had been formed to study the problem.
The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said “systems to neutralise drones” were being installed, but declined to elaborate.
Several companies have developed laser-based equipment to shoot down drones or missiles.
The US Navy has demonstrated that anti-missile systems can be used against drones, and the Russian army has developed “drone jamming” equipment to block remote control signals between the operator and the drone.
Drones, made of plastic, are difficult to spot because of their small size and the fact that they can fly at low altitudes. It is also difficult to trace the “pilots” who control them remotely.
“It’s almost impossible to keep track of a drone in a city,” Mr Naudin said. “You can’t follow it in a car.”
He also raised the possibility that the sightings were of the same drone, which could have flown over all the locations: “Was it the same drone or different drones? It’s hard to say.”
However, he suggested that it was “a well-organised operation” and the type of drone sighted was generally used by professional filmmakers rather than amateur enthusiasts.
“My hypothesis would be that it some kind of ‘eco-terrorist’ group,” Mr Naudin said. The environmental organisation Greenpeace was suspected of organising the drone flights over nuclear plants, but Mr Naudin said it was likely to be a more extreme group.
If the aim was to scare the public, it may have succeeded. Twitter posts expressed disbelief and anxiety. “So drones flew over Paris last night and the pilots couldn’t be found. Not reassuring,” said a post by Roberte Chabault. Another said it was “curious” that the pilots had not been traced, while a third spoke of “drone psychosis”.
Sources: Wall Street Journal ; Daily Telegraph