The ‘Countering illegal use of UAS around prisons and sensitive sites’ competition is looking for practical, low‑collateral technologies that can safely stop hostile drones once they breach secure prison airspace.
Up to £1.85 million is available, with funding expected to support several projects across two challenge areas.
According to the Government, “Traditional counter‑drone methods, such as kinetic interceptors or wide‑area jamming, are often unsuitable in custodial and urban environments. They can carry unacceptable risks to people, infrastructure and communications.”
Integrated detect, track and identify capabilities are welcome, but this competition is focused on defeating drones — not detection alone.
Lock the cons up 24hrs a day with no windows, or failing that the prison sells them the drugs/phones at a decent market rate and puts the profits towards fixing potholes in the road.
This is in addition to a £40 million boost to bolster prison security this year, including £10 million on anti-drone measures such as exterior netting and reinforced windows.
Problem with netting is that it is likely to be damaged every time there’s a storm; I imagine that the Home Office is after a ‘fit it & forget it’ solution. Selling stuff at market prices sounds like a way forward, but the traffic is in drugs! Bricking up the windows is a bit severe, but perhaps there could be shutters or metal louvres that deploy from a central control when a drone is detected!
Perhaps staff and well-behaved prisoners could be allowed to order pizza &c online & have it delivered; problem would be to ensure that contraband doesn’t come in with it.
