00:03Drones have repeatedly been spotted near airports, military sites and critical infrastructure in Germany.
00:09The question is how to stop them safely.
00:12Near Hamburg, selected journalists including Euronews were invited to watch a live demonstration of a new counter-drone system.
00:18Instead of shooting a drone down, an interceptor drone is designed to catch it in a net.
00:23The aim is to avoid debris falling onto people or property below.
00:27The developers say that that could make the technology particularly useful in urban areas.
00:32Another advantage? The drone can be recovered largely intact, allowing investigators to examine it afterwards.
00:41We want to avoid collateral damage, so that no parts fall down.
00:46And that's what we do with our net system.
00:48We are able to start the drone, transport it and place it where we want it.
00:54And that's what we actually want.
00:55And that's how we avoid material damage.
01:00And that's what we need to be careful, especially if we are active in urban areas.
01:09Before a drone can be intercepted, it first has to be detected and tracked.
01:13That's where Ecodine's radar technology comes in.
01:16The company's systems are designed to monitor airspace and follow multiple targets at the same time.
01:21But how many drones can a radar track at once?
01:24And what happens when the threat comes not from a single aircraft, but from an entire swarm, or so-called
01:30mother drones?
01:33Last year in Germany, when there's some sort of mother drone that sends a few smaller drones.
01:40Yep.
01:40And how many drones can your radar detect?
01:44Yeah, so our bigger radar can certainly be tracking hundreds of drones per panel.
01:50And so we have four panels in our 360 setup.
01:54And so you're going to be tracking many hundreds of drones, you know, approaching a thousand drones.
01:59While new interceptor drones are being assembled in the factory, testing continues outside.
02:04Not every interception succeeds on the first attempt, though.
02:07Each drone carries two net payloads, meaning operators can try again if the first net misses its target.
02:12The aim is to bring down the drone as safely and as intact as possible.
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