Deputy Prime Minister Grozdan Karadjov Requests Installation of Anti-Drone Systems at Bulgarian Airports

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadjov held a meeting today with the Director General of the Air Traffic Control Agency Georgi Peev, who briefed him in detail on the serious incident that occurred yesterday evening when a drone entered the area of ​​Sofia Airport.

The Air Traffic Control Agency promptly noticed the drone and tracked its trajectory from the moment it entered the area of ​​Sofia Airport until it left. The air traffic controllers at the Air Traffic Control Agency were in constant contact with the Ministry of Interior, Border Police and the National Agency for National Security and Defense, and monitored the movement and behavior of the drone at all times. In order to ensure the safety of the arriving aircraft, the landings of several aircraft had to be rescheduled so as to provide them with a safe trajectory.

In this regard, Deputy Prime Minister Karadzhov ordered the State Enterprise “Air Traffic Control” to propose a technical solution for the early detection and tracking of unmanned aerial vehicles entering the range of approaches and take-off and landing zones of Bulgarian airports. “Appropriate anti-drone systems are needed to protect the perimeter of airports. Conventional systems for combating drones are inapplicable in these facilities because they can affect communication and navigation equipment,” Karadzhov also stated.