The UK government said on October 6 that numerous unauthorised drones were neutralised during a NATO summit in The Hague, which was held between June 24 and 25.
The counter-drone technology was compliant with the Ministry of Defence owned SAPIENT standard (BSI Flex 335), which the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has developed. SAPIENT – or Sensing for Asset Protection with Integrated Electronic Networked Technology – is available to allies and underpins a forthcoming NATO counter-drone messaging standard.
Dstl said the SAPIENT standard provided coordination between different defence systems at the summit, enabling Dutch military forces to successfully intercept the drones.
The NATO summit deployment was one of the first publicised uses of SAPIENT in a live operational setting in the Netherlands. Dstl said it highlights the growing international adoption of British open standards in NATO-aligned security strategies.
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Image: Dstl image of an earlier SAPIENT trial
