Critical Issue: IGI RADAR FAILED TO TAKE IMAGES OF DRONE

[PARIKRAMA]

New Delhi:
Security agencies probing the matter of drone-like structures that were spotted flying in the proximity of IGI airport say their investigations have revealed that the radar at the airport failed to capture the image of any of these flying objects.

At a time when Delhi is under high alert, security agencies have raised the issue with the concerned authorities as they feel that this inefficiency may cost a heavy price.

On October 27, the airport suddenly went on high alert after a drone-like object was spotted flying at the airport premises near a runway. An immediate meeting was convened by the Intelligence Bureau, ATC, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Indian Air Force personnel and Delhi Police after the incident.

The agencies were left in a tizzy when similar sightings were reported on October 31. After the two incidents in a week, the Air Force CISF and Delhi Police had increased aerial and on-the-ground vigil around the airport. A criminal case was registered and probe was begun.

After about 21 days, as the agencies remain clueless about the sightings, senior official privy to the investigation, say that the radar at the airport had failed to capture an image of the objects that were reported flying.

Airport sources said that at present the IGIA uses three radars that cover an area of 250 nautical miles. According to the security officials, the radars are incompetent when it comes to tracking of low-flying and tiny objects.

IGI radar failed to take images of drone - The Times of India

Source is TNN but still issue is critical. It opens up a pandora's box of airports safety and possible usage of drone like objects to either create issues or tie a bomb and proximity detonation.

Also we need to ascertain is it just pertaining to IGI or other airport radars are also having similar issues.

 

[zebra7]

New Delhi:
Security agencies probing the matter of drone-like structures that were spotted flying in the proximity of IGI airport say their investigations have revealed that the radar at the airport failed to capture the image of any of these flying objects.

At a time when Delhi is under high alert, security agencies have raised the issue with the concerned authorities as they feel that this inefficiency may cost a heavy price.

On October 27, the airport suddenly went on high alert after a drone-like object was spotted flying at the airport premises near a runway. An immediate meeting was convened by the Intelligence Bureau, ATC, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, Indian Air Force personnel and Delhi Police after the incident.

The agencies were left in a tizzy when similar sightings were reported on October 31. After the two incidents in a week, the Air Force CISF and Delhi Police had increased aerial and on-the-ground vigil around the airport. A criminal case was registered and probe was begun.

After about 21 days, as the agencies remain clueless about the sightings, senior official privy to the investigation, say that the radar at the airport had failed to capture an image of the objects that were reported flying.

Airport sources said that at present the IGIA uses three radars that cover an area of 250 nautical miles. According to the security officials, the radars are incompetent when it comes to tracking of low-flying and tiny objects.

IGI radar failed to take images of drone - The Times of India

Source is TNN but still issue is critical. It opens up a pandora's box of airports safety and possible usage of drone like objects to either create issues or tie a bomb and proximity detonation.

Also we need to ascertain is it just pertaining to IGI or other airport radars are also having similar issues.

These low flying small drones could not be detected with the legacy Radars.

Check this out

source 'Gyrocopter' probably too small for radar to detect

WASHINGTON — The Florida man who flew his gyrocopter through restricted airspace to land on the U.S. Capitol grounds told federal investigators he feared being "shot down'' but took off anyway to call attention to campaign-finance policy, according to federal court documents.

Doug Hughes, 61, was charged Thursday with operating an unregistered aircraft and violating national airspace restrictions.

He told authorities he sent an advance message of his flight plan to an email account he believed to be associated with President Obama "to avoid being shot down.''

The account, info@barackobama.com, belongs to Organizing for Action, an advocacy organization that grew out of the president's former campaign.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the copter "apparently literally flew in under the radar" as it passed the Washington Monument and flew above the National Mall before landing on the West Lawn of the Capitol.

Johnson said it's too soon to say whether the incident should prompt changes in security procedures. "I want to know all the facts before I reach an assessment of what can and should be done about gyrocopters in the future," he said.

He defended procedures for dealing with the restricted airspace over Washington's federal buildings and monuments.

"We've got a well-coordinated federal response to dealing with issues of those who penetrate the restricted airspace without permission," he said.

Looking rumpled and wind-burned, the postal worker made his first court appearance Thursday afternoon, wearing a blue U.S. Postal Service jacket. He was released on his own recognizance on conditions that required his return home to Ruskin, Fla., and detention at home. A federal magistrate ordered that he wear a GPS monitoring device. He is prohibited from operating any kind of aircraft and cannot set foot on the grounds of the Capitol or the White House.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal Chawla gave Hughes and his court-appointed attorney maps outlining the perimeters of the prohibited zones.

Hughes will be required to report in person to federal authorities in Florida once a week.

A preliminary hearing was set for May 8 in Washington.

If Hughes is convicted, the maximum punishment for operating an unregistered aircraft is three years in prison and one year for the airspace violation.

Johnson said Hughes, a married father of four, was interviewed by the Secret Service after a tip almost two years ago about his plans to fly his gyrocopter to Washington. Johnson said the Secret Service passed the information from that interview to "all of the appropriate law enforcement agencies."

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a statement saying it is investigating how Hughes breached the no-fly perimeter. The statement said Hughes was not in contact with air-traffic controllers, and he was not authorized to enter the restricted airspace.

"Airspace security rules that cover the Capitol and the District of Columbia prohibit private aircraft flights without prior coordination and permission," the statement said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) is joining the FAA and other law enforcement and intelligence agencies in reviewing sensor data to understand how the gyrocopter got to the Capitol without being stopped.

NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said the incident highlights the inability of radar to detect cruise missiles and low, slow-flying objects. He said the military has begun a three-year test of a radar blimp in the region.

The blimp, formally named the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System, is positioned over Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. It includes a football-field-size airship that floats at about 10,000 feet. A second one is likely to go up soon.

Hughes advertised his plan in advance. He gave an extensive interview to his hometown newspaper, the Tampa Bay Times. He sent a blast email of his intentions to the Secret Service and news organizations. He live-streamed his illegal flight on a website called The Democracy Club.

He carried with him 535 letters, one for each member of Congress, outlining his complaints and his call for an end to the influence of money and lobbyists in Washington politics.

He flew his small, open-air, one-man machine from an airport in Gettysburg, Pa., on Wednesday afternoon straight to the Capitol lawn without interference. According to court documents, he chose Gettysburg because it is an "uncontrolled'' airstrip and in flight range of his copter.

Jeffrey Price, a professor of aviation and aerospace science at Metropolitan State University of Denver, said the aircraft — which weighs an average of 500 pounds, goes no faster than 50 mph and most likely flies no higher than 500 feet — wouldn't be picked up by radar.

To be detected by radar, the aircraft would have had to fly at about 3,000 feet, he said, and even then, it is so small it would have registered as a nondescript fast-moving blip. In this case, it was probably flying so low it would have blended in with birds, trees, buildings and other structures, he said.

"This is a unique case because people had prior knowledge that he was coming," Price said. "But it does raise questions about how safe those areas are."

Ed Clark, a security consultant who has worked with federal agencies to assess threats to their buildings, said that once the gyrocopter was detected, police would have had to assess how big a threat the aircraft posed vs. the damage caused by shooting the aircraft down and having it land in a crowded urban area.

"While it's unnerving that someone could land one of these things on the Capitol lawn, more goes into this than just someone did not do their job," Clark said. "They would have had to determine the intent of the pilot, which was a good thing because in this case, all he had was a box full of letters."

What worries Clark is that apparently no one detected the aircraft until it landed. There has been a pattern of people breaching security perimeters around Washington structures, including the White House, where several people have gotten onto the grounds recently.

"You could do a Ph.D. thesis now on the number of incursions into federally restricted areas," Clark said.

You need special Radars for such types of drones. Now with the Drones, now serious threat have been arises for the security of the Vip, and terrorist can use such things with devastating results.

Penetrating borders with low flying aircraft or ultralights can become nearly impossible with sophisticated radar being introduced at the IEEE homeland security conference in November.
The company that developed these systems is DeTect, Inc., part of Avian & Security Radar Systems in Panama City, Florida. “Ultralights, UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], and small Cessna aircraft, anything flying at 500 feet above ground level can typically evade radar systems,” says Richard Anderson, vice president of security and surveillance for DeTect. “Our radar can be strategically deployed to cover the gaps in the typical air coverage that’s already utilized throughout the United States.”

To do this, special algorithms needed to be created. “The problem is there’s a lot of stuff out there,” says Anderson, “and a lot you don’t care about, like an eagle being mistaken for an ultralight” that could be carrying a bomb or terrorist. This radar system solves that question, can be fixed or mobile on trailers, even powered by solar. Currently the system is being used to detect bird flights dangerous to aircraft and space launchings, even automatically shutting down wind turbines when birds approach.

DeTect will unveil its systems at the Technologies for Homeland Security Conference November 8 – 10, 2010, in Boston, produced by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The public is welcome to attend by registering at the website.

Anderson gave a preview of what they will show at the conference by phone from his office on the ScienceNews Radio Network program, the Promise of Tomorrow with Colonel Mason. The broadcast originates in Dallas, Texas, and can now be heard at the website, archived for its world audience.

On the same broadcast Fausto Molinet, instrumental in organizing the first such conference, told why it was established. “There were several of us here in the Boston [IEEE] section who recognized after the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington that there needed to be a stronger emphasis on technology solutions to assist in homeland security,” said Molinet by phone from his office in Boston.
The event will showcase selected technical papers highlighting emerging technologies in:
• Cybersecurity
• Land and maritime border security
• Counter-WMD techniques and critical infrastructure and key resources physical security
• Attack and disaster preparation, recovery and response

This year the conference invited headliner is special assistant to the US president, Howard A. Schmidt, as coordinator of the new office of Cybersecurity.

Other top speakers are Starnes E. Walker, Director of Research, S&T Directorate, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Christopher Doyle, Director, Infrastructure & Geophysical Division, Science & Technology Directorate, U. S. Department of Homeland Security; Thomas A. Cellucci, Chief Commercialization Officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate; Richard J. Driggers, Director, Infrastructure Information Collection Division, Office of Infrastructure Protection, U.S. Department Homeland Security; and a host of technology innovators and presenters that can be found at the website.

 

[Stag112]

If it is a low flying small object, a civilian radar meant for air traffic will NOT capture it.

People need to realize radars are not magic. They are calibrated for certain tasks and operate in certain modes depending on the requirement.

 

[vayuputhra]

Golmaal hai bhai, sab golmal hai,
Substandard purchases by govt agencies.