Netherlands and France train eagles to catch drones. UK: Prince William's air ambulance narrowly escapes from lethal drone

Partnering with Nature is a time-honored tradition, Dutch police training golden eagles to catch drones

Prince Williams has flown for the Air Ambulance Service since 2015; a lethal drone comes within HALF A SECOND of Prince William's air ambulance.

A golden eagle grabs a flying drone during a military training exercise at Mont-de-Marsan French Air Force base, Southwestern France.

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February 8, 2016
Partnering with animals is a time-honored tradition. For law enforcement officers around the world, partnering with animals is a time-honored tradition. Mounted police do their duty on horseback -- and, in some countries, camelback. Specially trained dogs serve and protect by sniffing out drugs and explosives. But in the Netherlands, police officers are inaugurating a new species of animal partner -- eagles -- to take down illegal aerial drones. In a statement released Jan. 31, the Dutch National Police Corps announced a new initiative using birds of prey to intercept unwanted drones. The program was developed and tested in partnership with Guard from Above (GFA), a Dutch company located in the Hague that specializes in training large, predatory birds to "hunt" and subdue robotic prey. A video published by the National Police Corps of an indoor demonstration shows a handler releasing an eagle, which swoops toward a hovering quadcopter drone, snatching the machine out of the air and flying off with it into a corner of the training ring.

Drones are becoming so prevalent that measures are needed to control them. Recently there was news that many flying drones almost collided with aeroplanes in Britain. the Dutch national police force has begun training eagles to catch and intercept troublemaking drones.

25 March 2017
Lethal drone comes within HALF A SECOND of Prince William's air ambulance Prince William’s air ambulance has come within half a second of a catastrophic mid-air collision with a remote-controlled drone. Medics on board reacted with horror when they spotted the device within feet of potentially downing their helicopter. The Anglia Two lands so that a medic could attend to a boy, who had been injured in a road accident. The helicopter then drops the patient at the Royal London Hospital. Nine miles back to its Cambridge base, the helicopter comes dangerously close to a drone.

The Eurocopter 145 narrowly missed the drone when it was flying over Brimsdown on the outskirts of Enfield, North London, while returning to its base at Cambridge airport. The device is thought to be about eight inches across – too small to be picked up by air traffic control radar but large enough to cause serious damage in a collision. A report by the UK Airprox Board, which investigates near-collisions in UK airspace, rated it as a Category A incident due to there being a ‘serious risk of collision’. The report said that the drone was flown ‘into conflict’ with the helicopter over a built-up area without Civil Aviation Authority permission at 7.45pm on August 26 last year, effectively ‘endangering the EC145 and its crew’.

Prince William's air ambulance helicopter 'half a SECOND from deadly mid-air collision with drone at 1,900ft' Prince Williams has flown for the Air Ambulance Service since 2015 as he pilots it on a regular basis. Two pilots and three medical staff were on board the helicopter at the time the drone came within a few feet of the aircraft and only missed it "by chance", according to reports.

Feb 10, 2017
A golden eagle grabs a flying drone A golden eagle carries a flying drone away during a military training exercise at Mont-de-Marsan French Air Force base.

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Photo courtesy TechBakBak.com, Dutch National Police Corps, Getty Images Europe, Daily Mail , and REUTERS / Regis Duvignau