Asia's biggest aviation event shows how the counter-drone craze is taking hold

"This year's Singapore Airshow was a true display of how the world has come to both love drones and fear them. Fighter jets danced in the sky and a slew of commercial airliners sat on the baking tarmac for military officials, students, and eager interns to gawk at. But inside the main hall, you'd be hard-pressed to look anywhere and not see "drone" or "UAS" plastered on a placard or wall."

"Roughly 550 organizations were listed as exhibitors at the event, which hosted a mix of civil aviation companies, defense contractors, and air forces. A third were in the uncrewed aerial system business. Around every corner, it seemed as though there was a system to fight drones: Big drones, small drones, drones with bombs strapped to them, drones that spy on you from miles away, drones that spy on you from 300 feet in the sky - and increasingly, drones that fly at you in swarms."

"Recent conflicts, especially the Ukraine war, has brought to the fore the fear of an unknown $600 device flying into a military base or a football stadium to deal untold damage or take lives. The implications go beyond war. Last fall, repeated unidentified drone sightings forced European countries to disrupt hundreds of passenger flights. The solutions on offer at the airshow covered almost everything one imaginable for preventing those scenarios."

Singapore hosted a six-day biennial airshow in early February that showcased a wide range of counter-drone technologies. Roughly 550 organizations exhibited, including civil aviation firms, defense contractors, and air forces, with about a third involved in uncrewed aerial systems. Exhibitors displayed systems for every imagined drone threat: large and small platforms, weaponized drones, long-range surveillance drones, low-altitude observation drones, and swarming UAS. Recent conflicts, notably the Ukraine war, and civilian incidents such as mass flight disruptions have driven demand. Countermeasures ranged from handheld radio-frequency jammers to truck-mounted systems, including a 13‑pound Skylock jamming gun.

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