Where Eagles Dare:
French military using winged warriors
to hunt down rogue drones.
This is amazing.
A golden eagle grabs a flying drone during
a military training exercise at Mont-de-Marsan
French Air Force base, Southwestern France.
Following incidents of drones flying over
the presidential palace and restricted
military sites – along with the deadly
2015 Paris terror attacks – the French
Air Force has trained four golden eagles
to intercept and destroy the rogue aircraft.
Aptly named d'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos
and Aramis – an homage to Alexandre Dumas’
“The Three Musketeers” – the four birds
of prey have been honing their attack
skills at the Mont-de-Marsan in
southwestern France since mid-2016.
“A drone means food for these birds,”
Gerald Machoukow, the military base's
falconer, told FRANCE 24. “Now they
automatically go after them.”
The use of hunting birds – normally
falcons and northern goshawks – by
militaries around the globe is common
practice in the fight to scare other
critters away from runways and so
cut the risk of accidents during takeoff
or landing. But it wasn’t until 2015 when
the Dutch started using bald eagles to
intercept drones that other militaries
started to see the benefit of these
winged warriors.
The French bred the four golden eagles
– three males and one female -- using
artificial insemination since eagles are
a protected species and harvesting wild
eggs is strictly forbidden. They chose the
golden eagle because of the birds hooked
beak and sharp eyesight.
Also weighing in around 11 pounds, the
birds are in a similar weight class as the
drones they’re sent to destroy and clocking
in at a top air speed of 50 miles per hour,
with the capability of spotting its target
from over a mile away, the eagles are
deft hunters.
To protect the eagles from drone blades
and any explosive device that might be
attached to them, the French military
designed mittens of leather and Kevlar
(an anti-blast material), to protect the
bird’s talons.
A golden eagle carries a flying drone (2017).
"I love these birds," Machoukow told
Agence France-Presse. "I don't want to
send them to their death."
The birds are first taught to attack in a
straight line before graduating to diving
from heights. Soon they’ll be patrolling the
skies over the Pyrenees Mountains in
southern France and could possibly be
deployed at airports and special events,
such as political summits and soccer
tournaments.
The French air force already expects
four more eagles to join the fleet.
