In April 2016, a drone struck an Airbus A320 British Airways flight as it approached its destination, London Heathrow, following a departure from Geneva. While the jet and its 132 passengers and five crewmen landed safely, the incident is being investigated for possible criminal links, including terrorism. The possibly deadly outcome of this collision merits a closer look at air and land-based threats against civil aviation targets.
Terrorist groups’ use of drones is not new. In August 2002, the Colombian military found nine drones, including one fitted with plastic explosives, at a FARC base. In November 2004, Hezbollah launched an Iranian-made drone, Mirsad-1, from Lebanon into Israel, which returned without incident. Subsequently, including in August 2006, Hezbollah armed an Ababil drone with a warhead containing some 100 pounds of explosives. In September 2014, Hezbollah reportedly armed a drone, which bombed an al Nusra Front building along the Lebanese-Syrian border.