The image of a bald eagle locking onto a hovering quadcopter like a rabbit in an open field while banking hard through an indoor training facility with its talons outstretched is almost ridiculous. However, the Dutch National Police took that image very seriously in the early months of 2016.
The initiative started out as a collaboration between the national police force of the Netherlands and Guard From Above, a Hague-based company founded by Sjoerd Hoogendoorn and Ben de Keijzer, one of whom had experience in private security and the other in bird handling. Their pitch was surprisingly straightforward: teach raptors to capture unapproved drones in the same manner that they would capture prey. At the time, Hoogendoorn called it “a low-tech solution for a high-tech problem,” which, depending on your point of view, is either an understatement or a brilliant idea.
The biology of the concept was what elevated it above a practical joke. The National Audubon Society’s Geoff LeBaron made a point that most people missed: birds of prey already naturally dislike drones. Raptors are territorial, and drones are about the size of large birds. They react appropriately because they see the drone as a rival entering their airspace. Overriding instinct is not being trained in that way. Working with it is training. The difference is important.
The way these birds interacted with the machines physically was also truly remarkable. When a rotor spins, all that is visible to humans is a blur. According to LeBaron, eagles probably see the entire arc of motion because of their exceptional visual acuity, which makes them seem to time their strikes to the drone’s center while completely avoiding the spinning blades. They have been seen attacking the machine’s back, naturally focusing on its spine in the same manner as they would any animal. It’s so effective that it almost makes the engineers who created the object being caught feel ashamed.
Similar experiments were reportedly conducted by the French Air Force, which trained golden eagles to pursue and capture rogue drones. These birds were able to detect, track, and intercept targets in ways that signal jammers occasionally couldn’t, especially in intricate urban or electromagnetic environments. Eagles are reportedly being trained for aerial surveillance and counter-drone roles in India, which has also investigated the idea. Conventional counter-drone tools can be costly, slow to adapt, or blunt in situations requiring precision, which is why they were appealing in all countries and contexts.
Nevertheless, the Dutch program was quietly discontinued in 2017. High maintenance costs and a sincere fear that the birds would be harmed by larger or more potent drones were the practical explanations. When used against small consumer quadcopters, the talons performed satisfactorily. The risk equation changed when compared to anything faster or heavier. Law enforcement shifted to electronic countermeasures and signal jammers, which can’t be harmed and don’t require feeding.
Perhaps the timing was just off. In 2016, drone technology was mostly for hobbyists, but since then, the devices have become more powerful, quicker, and more difficult to electronically intercept. Despite its shortcomings, there is a feeling that the raptor approach was resolving an issue that has since become much more complicated. Recently, Airbus unveiled Bird of Prey, a counter-drone platform that can intercept one-way attack drones at a lower cost than conventional air defense systems. Notably, Bird of Prey is a machine rather than an animal.
The Eagles are no longer in service. There are more people in the skies than ever before. Furthermore, the issue that the Dutch police were attempting to resolve ten years ago in a converted training hangar has quietly emerged as one of the more pressing issues in contemporary defense. It is still genuinely unclear whether the solution is biological, electronic, or mechanical. At least that hasn’t changed.
