No malicious intent was found in the actions of any officials involved in the drone incident that occurred at Riga International Airport on the 13th of January, as concluded by the committee composed by the Ministry of Transport following the order from Prime Minister Evikas Siliņa.
The Ministry of Transport notes the report has been submitted to the Prime Minister.
According to the committee, there has been no malicious behaviour by the officials involved in the drone incident. At the same time, the authorities involved must immediately take a series of actions to strengthen the protection of the aviation critical infrastructure.
The Ministry of Transport will provide a vision of short-term and long-term solutions to ensure the safety of aviation and other critical infrastructure facilities against unauthorized drone flights by Tuesday, the 11th of February.
The committee concluded that at the time of the incident, officials and operational staff of Riga Airport, Latvian Air Traffic (LGS) and the Civil Aviation Agency (CAA) ensured the safety of civil aviation flights in accordance with predetermined procedures. In order to prevent threats to flight safety in accordance with procedures, the airspace was temporarily closed, directing several planes to alternate aerodromes, however, in the opinion of the commission, a number of improvements still need to be made.
The committee also assessed the role and ability of the institutions involved to respond to the threat of critical infrastructure in accordance with the changes in geopolitical conditions and recognized that improvements are needed.
The Ministry of Transport expects the council and board of Riga Airport, as well as the manager of critical infrastructure, more active involvement in the improvement of risk policies.
The ministry also expects improvements to drone risks prevention measures, which should include countermeasures to battle unsanctioned drone flights.
At the same time, airfield operational services should improve their cooperation processes, including the establishment of a drone incident management unit, which should ensure the management of drone incidents in accordance with the guidelines of the European Aviation Safety Agency, including all entities involved in operational work and incident response, the Ministry of Transport notes.
The ministry emphasizes that several technical and tactical improvements have been made as a result of the evaluation of the incident. This includes improving the notification system and checking it in real time. According to the Ministry, currently all parties involved in the prevention of incidents immediately receive unified information that allows them to act accordingly.
Also, until the moment when the installation of equipment for the procurement “Unmanned Aircraft Radar Rental” concluded on the 30th of January, this year, the CAA has created an opportunity to install an additional drone capture equipment in the territory of Riga Airport, which currently complements the existing system at Riga Airport.
At the same time, a mobile drone detection system is also provided in the territory of Riga Airport, which the CAA has released for use at Riga Airport. It has also been agreed that the aforementioned systems will operate until the capacity of Riga Airport is adequately completed with the equipment provided for in the specified procurement.
According to the decision made by the National Civil Aviation Safety Commission at the extraordinary meeting on Monday, 3rd of February, a written agreement should be concluded between law enforcement authorities and civil aviation companies on the interaction, duties and technical capabilities of the services.
In the opinion of the ministry, such an agreement should more precisely address procedures, technical capabilities, deadlines and other important issues of how to respond to unauthorized flights by unidentified drones in the future. Similarly, such practice would be transferable to the management of other critical infrastructure facilities.
On the 5th of February the Latvian PM ordered the Ministry of Transport to assess the response algorithms and consider possible improvement, as well as provide an assessment of the response from officials, including those from Riga Airport, Civil Aviation Agency and Latvian Air Traffic to the drone incident of the 13th of January.
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