Countering the Drone Threat

The report examines the technical, legal, and strategic landscape of counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS), arguing that current technology is often ineffective and hindered by outdated legal frameworks. It assesses specific risks to Norwegian infrastructure, such as airports and oil platforms, and explores how Norway can leverage EU and NATO initiatives to enhance its capabilities while avoiding the over-securitization of civilian airspace.

• C-UAS technology is frequently ineffective in real-world applications, and users face significant obstacles regarding safety, planning, coordination, and legality.
• Existing legal frameworks have failed to keep pace with technological advancements, resulting in many C-UAS solutions being unusable in civilian environments due to legal constraints.
• In Norway, the police are the only entity legally permitted to intercept drones, but they lack the legal authority to interfere with electronic communications, meaning jamming is typically only permissible under the principle of necessity (nødrett) for threats to national security or life.
• Detection systems face numerous technical limitations, including difficulty detecting small drones flying low, interference in urban environments, and a reliance on libraries of known drone sounds or frequencies that cannot cover all emerging models.
• Interdiction methods carry inherent risks, such as kinetic systems causing drones to fall with force, jamming interfering with legitimate communications (including airport Instrument Landing Systems), and lasers posing threats to aircraft flying above the target.
• Advances in drone technology, such as the development of drones capable of operating in GPS-denied environments or using LTE networks for control, threaten to render current jamming-based C-UAS systems obsolete.
• C-UAS technology is prohibitively expensive for many small organisations; a 2019 Sandia National Laboratories study found that 77 out of 123 products with available pricing cost over $100,000.
• Norway can enhance its C-UAS capabilities by participating in EU initiatives such as the European Defence Fund (EDF), the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) scheme, and the Horizon 2020 research programme.
• NATO has established a C-UAS Working Group to centralise efforts, focusing on building a community of practitioners, reviewing policy and doctrine, developing universal technical standards for interoperability, and conducting R&D exercises.
• The deployment of C-UAS technology raises significant societal concerns, including privacy risks from surveillance and the potential for psychological stress or an inflated perception of threat.

APA

Silkoset, A., Michel, A. H., & Martins, B. O. (2020). Countering the Drone Threat. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4901dc71-7424-415c-99cd-8f6e6545e64c/Martins et al - Countering the Drone Threat - PRIO Paper 2020.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Silkoset, Andrea, Arthur Holland Michel, and Bruno Oliveira Martins. Countering the Drone Threat. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2020. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4901dc71-7424-415c-99cd-8f6e6545e64c/Martins et al - Countering the Drone Threat - PRIO Paper 2020.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Silkoset |first1=Andrea |last2=Michel |first2=Arthur Holland |last3=Martins |first3=Bruno Oliveira |title=Countering the Drone Threat |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=2020 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4901dc71-7424-415c-99cd-8f6e6545e64c/Martins et al - Countering the Drone Threat - PRIO Paper 2020.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{silkoset2020countering, author = {Silkoset, Andrea and Michel, Arthur Holland and Martins, Bruno Oliveira}, title = {{Countering the Drone Threat}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2020}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/4901dc71-7424-415c-99cd-8f6e6545e64c/Martins et al - Countering the Drone Threat - PRIO Paper 2020.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }