Drone with net – Tokyo is using anti-drone to catch other drones

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department(MPD) is launching an anti-drone crafts – Drone with net – to catch a drone that spotted flying near sensitive areas. Starting in mid-December, the interceptor drones will be operated around-the-clock by trained officers.

If a suspicious drone is detected, the drone operators will be warned via loudspeakers on the ground. But if the drone operators fail to respond, the anti-drone squad will release their own drones that will be equipped with cameras and nets measuring six to 10 feet long. The nets will be used to capture the drones.

“Terrorist attacks using drones carrying explosives are a possibility,” a senior member of the police department’s security bureau told the Asahi Shimbun website. “We hope to defend the nation’s functions with the worst-case scenario in mind.”

Metropolitan Police Department(MPD) officials from within the riot squad division will control the camera-equipped interceptor drones to chase after private drones they feel may be spying on Diet Building or the Japanese prime minister’s official residence, and ensnare them in large nets before returning to the ground.

It will go into full-fledged operation in February with 10 aircraft to be piloted by trained officers.

The decision to begin using interceptor drones- Drone with net – was reached after a four-propellor drone equipped with a smoke canister and a plastic container holding radiation-contaminated soil was found on top of the prime minister’s office earlier this year.

“This situation concerns the center of the Japanese government, the prime minister’s office, and we will take every necessary measures, including a detailed investigation by police”, Yoshihide Suga, the chief cabinet secretary, said at a press conference. A man was later arrested.

A video showing anti-drone – Drone with net – catching drones in action is as below