This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

What’s the answer to a drone that has gone rogue and is flying where it shouldn’t? According to Northumberland-based startup OpenWorks Engineering, it’s an air-powered net launcher that fires small anti-drone projectiles.

The SkyWall is a new shoulder-mounted compressed-air launcher that fires shells containing a net and parachute to capture and bring a drone back to the ground without damaging it.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The missile-shaped projectile contains the net and parachute to capture the drone and bring it safely to the ground. Photograph: OpenWorks Engineering

The Northumberland firm’s launcher looks like something out of a computer game, complete with a targeting computer and holographic scope to predict a drone’s flight, which the company says will help law enforcement take out potentially dangerous targets.

The launcher weighs 10kg, uses compressed air and can fire almost silently at drones up to 100m away, reloading in 8 seconds, according to the company.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest The launcher uses compressed air to propel the projectile up to 100m. Photograph: OpenWorks Engineering

The efficacy of the SkyWall will rely on the accuracy of the human controlling the launcher, as well as the drone not changing direction after the projectile has been launched.

The managing director of OpenWorks Engineering, Chris Down, said: “OpenWorks Engineering believes that security enforcement authorities need a cost-effective and proportionate way of protecting the public and high-profile individuals and we wanted to put a system on the market that offered just that.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The shoulder-mounted launcher has a targeting computer to aid the user in tracking and capturing drones. Photograph: OpenWorks Engineering

Drones are becoming an increasingly difficult problem. The small, versatile machines, which can be bought for less than £100, can fly virtually unrestricted over and within sensitive areas. Recent events at airports, the White House, around German chancellor Angela Merkel, and sporting events – where a camera drone narrowly missed downhill skiing champion Marcel Hirscher on a slope in Italy – have highlighted the need for drone control and safety.

The SkyWall is among other technology-based solutions dubbed drone falconry, where a drone fires a net at another drone. Other solutions use radio-frequency jammers to block the control of drones, however, these can interfere with other nearby devices such as radios and mobile phones.

Meanwhile, Dutch police have been training eagles to attack and capture drones, described as “a low-tech solution to a high-tech problem”.