Bulgarian authorities look to fill security gaps after drone incident at Sofia Airport

Representatives of various Bulgarian state and government institutions met on February 10 to discuss filling gaps in security at Sofia Airport after an incident three days earlier in which an unidentified drone caused emergency changes to the airport’s flight schedule.

The Transport Ministry said on February 8 that, in Friday evening’s incident, air traffic controllers had noticed the drone immediately and tracked it from the moment it entered the Sofia Airport area until it left.

The air traffic controllers were in constant contact with the Interior Ministry, Border Police and the State Agency for National Security, and monitored the movement and behaviour of the drone at all times, the statement said.

In order to ensure the safety of arriving aircraft, it was necessary to reschedule the landing of some aircraft so as to provide them with a safe trajectory. No flights were diverted, the ministry said.

At the weekend, it was announced that police were investigating who was behind the drone and pre-trial proceedings had been initiated. Operating a drone in the air space of an airport is illegal.

Speaking after the February 10 meeting, Transport Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Grozdan Karadzhov said that the drone incident was a matter of concern, and could have been a “provocation” or someone trying to test the airport’s security systems.

There were gaps that needed to be filled, he said, after talks at the meeting with representatives of the Interior Ministry, Air Traffic Control, State Agency for National Security, the Civil Aviation Administration directorate, Communications Regulation Commission and Sofia Airport operators SOF Connect.

Karadzhov said that several things needed to be done, first of all, in respect of detection of such objects, because they are small.

“Two systems need to be set up, one of which will be at the airport and will allow, if such a device approaches, it to be neutralised. This will be done and is the responsibility of the concession-holder of Sofia Airport,” Karadzhov said.

“The second element is the ability to detect drones within a radius of 20 metres. This will be a function of the state. We do not have such a body at the moment.

“Some of the departments responsible for internal security will have to create teams that will detect them early in this perimeter and be able to track them,” he said.

A third tasks will be setting up systems to counter drones.

“It turns out that we do not have a body that can perform such functions, and it is partially performed by Sofia Airport,” Karadzhov said.

“They call the Sofia directorate of the Interior Ministry, and they call the relevant departments. That is, we have a cumbersome procedure. This also requires legislative changes, which we will work on in the coming weeks,” Karadzhov said.

Earlier, Bulgaria’s Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov told Nova Televizia that there was no law that gave the ministry the right to shoot down a drone, even over a military site.

A working group should be formed to draft the relevant changes to the laws, Zapryanov said.

He said that it is necessary to write a procedure that regulates which body in which cases can take what measures. The necessary legislative changes could be made in three to four months, he said.

(Photo: Transport Ministry)