Commercial drones are increasingly being seen as a threat to our way of life, with arrests for flying them becoming more common. Journalists were arrested for flying a drone over Paris, a man was held by police over a drone flight above Manchester City’s football stadium and a teacher was arrested for flying a drone at the US Open.

Whether these drones and their pilots posed an actual threat to members of the public is unknown, but authorities are becoming increasingly twitchy about civilian flights over public areas.

Now the second drone killer, which is able to take a UAV out of the sky, has been revealed.

Defence company Selex ES has unveiled its ‘counter-UAV system’ that allows an official to take control of a drone in-flight.

The Falcon Shield system, which has been promoted at London’s biggest arms fair, is said to work using the company’s “high-performance, passive electro-optical and electronic surveillance sensors, combined with scenario specific radar”.

A graphic from the company explains that the system is able to use its sensors to find where a drone is and then locate where it is being flown from.

Its controller then has a number of options they can take, including tracking the drone and reducing its speed or being able to “disrupt, deny or defeat” the perceived threat.

Steve Williams, an employee at Selex ES, told Shephard Media that the system could be used to operate in the middle of London or to protect a large nuclear facility. He said that the company has also taken part in anti-drone trials with the UK’s Ministry of Defence and NATO.

Last month Boeing also unveiled a ground cannon that can shoot down a drone that’s in mid-flight.

The company’s ‘Compact Laser Weapons System’ was able to burn a hole through the target using a directed laser.

With heightened security alerts in place around the world in response to terrorism threats, and people attaching guns to drones it’s not exactly surprising that drone busters are being created.

In the US drones are starting to be used by criminals to smuggle drugs across the nation’s borders and over the walls of prisons, and a counter terrorism anti-drone work group has grown to 65 members since it started in 2013.

One alternative to shooting drones out of the sky is use GPS to create geo-fenced areas that an overarching system, like one that is being developed by the UK government and NASA, can use to stop drones flying within certain areas.