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Where Eagles Dare
French military use winged warriors to hunt down rogue drones
A golden eagle grabs a flying drone during a military training exercise at Mont-de-Marsan French Air Force base, southwestern France
DJI phantom drones no match for drone-seeking eagle
A golden eagle carries a flying DJI Phantom drone away during a military training exercise
Following incidents of drones flying over the Presidential Palace and restricted military sites - along with the 2015 Paris terror attacks - the French air force has trained four golden eagles to intercept and destroy rogue UAV drone aircraft. Aptly named Aramis, Athos, d’Artagnan and Porthos (an homage to Alexandre Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers”) the four birds of prey have been honing their attack skills in France since mid-2016.
“A drone means food for these birds,” stated Gerald Machoukow, the military base’s falconer. “Now they automatically go after them.”
The use of hunting birds (normally falcons and northern goshawks) by military forces around the globe is common practice in the fight to scare other birds away from runways and so cut the risk of accidents during takeoff or landing. But it wasn’t until 2015 when the Dutch started using bald eagles to intercept drones that others started to see the benefit of these winged warriors. The French bred the four golden eagles using artificial insemination since eagles are a protected species and harvesting wild eggs is strictly forbidden. They chose the golden eagle because of the bird’s hooked beak and sharp eyesight.
Weighing in at around 11 pounds, the birds are in a similar weight class as the drones they’re sent to destroy. Clocking in at a top air speed of 50 miles per hour, with the capability of spotting its target from over a mile away, the eagles are deft hunters. To protect the eagles from drone blades and any explosive device that might be attached to them, the French military designed mittens of leather and Kevlar, an anti-blast material, to protect the bird’s talons.
“A drone means food for these birds,” stated Gerald Machoukow, the military base’s falconer. “Now they automatically go after them.”
The use of hunting birds (normally falcons and northern goshawks) by military forces around the globe is common practice in the fight to scare other birds away from runways and so cut the risk of accidents during takeoff or landing. But it wasn’t until 2015 when the Dutch started using bald eagles to intercept drones that others started to see the benefit of these winged warriors. The French bred the four golden eagles using artificial insemination since eagles are a protected species and harvesting wild eggs is strictly forbidden. They chose the golden eagle because of the bird’s hooked beak and sharp eyesight.
Weighing in at around 11 pounds, the birds are in a similar weight class as the drones they’re sent to destroy. Clocking in at a top air speed of 50 miles per hour, with the capability of spotting its target from over a mile away, the eagles are deft hunters. To protect the eagles from drone blades and any explosive device that might be attached to them, the French military designed mittens of leather and Kevlar, an anti-blast material, to protect the bird’s talons.
Love is a kind of military service. - Ovid
If you've got a talent, protect it. - Jim Carrey
It is not death that alarms me, but dying. - Michel De Montaigne
Thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot! - William Shakespeare
I now close my military career and just fade away. - Douglas MacArthur
Marketing strategy is a lot like military strategy. - Liddell Hart
Protect your enthusiasm from the negativity of others. - H. Jackson Brown Jr.
You cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren. - William Henry Hudson
Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value. - Marechal Ferdinand Foch
Lawyers are men whom we hire to protect us from lawyers. - Elbert Hubbard
A woman's best protection is a little money of her own. - Clare B Luce
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. - Steven Wright
If the Eagle Scouts had some sort of Sith equivalent, Marcone was it. - Jim Butcher
A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end. - George S Patton
The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking. - John Kenneth Galbraith
He prefers the security of known misery to the misery of unfamiliar insecurity. - Sheldon B. Kopp
Idealism, alas, does not protect one from ignorance, dogmatism, and foolishness. - Sidney Hook
A memorandum isn't written to inform the receiver, but to protect the writer. - Dean Acheson
It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age. - Jeanne Moreau
You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness. - Jonathan S Foer
Birds find shelter during the rain, but eagles avoid rain by flying above the clouds. - Abdul Kalam
A man's own good breeding is the best security against other people's ill manners. - Lord Chesterfield
The game is played not to protect the rules; rather, the rules are made to protect the game. - Ravi Zacharias
I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection. - Sigmund Freud
You can't fly with the owls by night and expect to keep up with the eagles during the day. - Unknown
I do not think there is any silver bullet to solving the technology side of the security equation. - John W. Thompson
Hard work is the soundest investment. It provides a neat security for your widow's next husband. - Unknown
My parents live in a retirement community, which is basically a minimum-security prison with a golf course. - Joel Warshaw
A drone is often preferred for missions that are too 'dull, dirty, or dangerous' for manned aircraft. - Nick Hahn
Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death. - James F. Bymes
You can't reach old age by another man's road. My habits protect my life but they would assassinate you. - Mark Twain
Tariff: A scale of taxes on imports, designed to protect the domestic producer against the greed of his consumer - Daffynitions joe-ks.com
Tariff: A scale of taxes on imports, designed to protect the domestic producer against the greed of his consumer. - Ambrose Bierce
If you can't even acknowledge that you have to fix social security, that's not a very good starting point. - Rob Portman
As the eagle was killed by the arrow winged with his own feather, so the hand of the world is wounded by its own skill. - Helen Keller
Does America really need to be the best at everything? You already dominate the world in economics, military power and obesity. - Trevor Noah
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. - Oscar Ameringer
The shaft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle's own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our destruction. - Aesop
In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power - including strong and principled diplomacy. - Barack Obama
If you've got a talent, protect it. - Jim Carrey
It is not death that alarms me, but dying. - Michel De Montaigne
Thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot! - William Shakespeare
I now close my military career and just fade away. - Douglas MacArthur
Marketing strategy is a lot like military strategy. - Liddell Hart
Protect your enthusiasm from the negativity of others. - H. Jackson Brown Jr.
You cannot fly like an eagle with the wings of a wren. - William Henry Hudson
Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value. - Marechal Ferdinand Foch
Lawyers are men whom we hire to protect us from lawyers. - Elbert Hubbard
A woman's best protection is a little money of her own. - Clare B Luce
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines. - Steven Wright
If the Eagle Scouts had some sort of Sith equivalent, Marcone was it. - Jim Butcher
A piece of spaghetti or a military unit can only be led from the front end. - George S Patton
The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking. - John Kenneth Galbraith
He prefers the security of known misery to the misery of unfamiliar insecurity. - Sheldon B. Kopp
Idealism, alas, does not protect one from ignorance, dogmatism, and foolishness. - Sidney Hook
A memorandum isn't written to inform the receiver, but to protect the writer. - Dean Acheson
It is true greatness to have in one the frailty of a man and the security of a god. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age. - Jeanne Moreau
You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness. - Jonathan S Foer
Birds find shelter during the rain, but eagles avoid rain by flying above the clouds. - Abdul Kalam
A man's own good breeding is the best security against other people's ill manners. - Lord Chesterfield
The game is played not to protect the rules; rather, the rules are made to protect the game. - Ravi Zacharias
I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection. - Sigmund Freud
You can't fly with the owls by night and expect to keep up with the eagles during the day. - Unknown
I do not think there is any silver bullet to solving the technology side of the security equation. - John W. Thompson
Hard work is the soundest investment. It provides a neat security for your widow's next husband. - Unknown
My parents live in a retirement community, which is basically a minimum-security prison with a golf course. - Joel Warshaw
A drone is often preferred for missions that are too 'dull, dirty, or dangerous' for manned aircraft. - Nick Hahn
Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death. - James F. Bymes
You can't reach old age by another man's road. My habits protect my life but they would assassinate you. - Mark Twain
Tariff: A scale of taxes on imports, designed to protect the domestic producer against the greed of his consumer - Daffynitions joe-ks.com
Tariff: A scale of taxes on imports, designed to protect the domestic producer against the greed of his consumer. - Ambrose Bierce
If you can't even acknowledge that you have to fix social security, that's not a very good starting point. - Rob Portman
As the eagle was killed by the arrow winged with his own feather, so the hand of the world is wounded by its own skill. - Helen Keller
Does America really need to be the best at everything? You already dominate the world in economics, military power and obesity. - Trevor Noah
Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. - Oscar Ameringer
The shaft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle's own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our destruction. - Aesop
In a world of complex threats, our security and leadership depends on all elements of our power - including strong and principled diplomacy. - Barack Obama
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