Gatwick Airport lead joins Counter Terrorism Drone Specialist, Crowded Space Drones
LONDON, UK: Ashley Harvey, Gatwick Airport’s Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Lead is to join leading UK drone specialist, Crowded Space Drones, as the head of their Counter Drone Unit.
Having worked at Gatwick Airport since 1997 primarily in Airside operational roles, Ashley became the drone lead for the airport following the attacks in December 2018 which disrupted airport operations for several days and made headlines around the world.
In this role he oversaw the testing and deployment of drone detection systems and creating operational systems, processes and procedures to mitigate and prevent further attacks of the airport.
In this role, Ashley has also worked with UK and European wide airspace safety and counter terrorism agencies on protecting critical infrastructure and new legislation to support this.
Andrew Hamilton, Director of Operations for Crowded Space Drones welcomed Ashley’s appointment: “In my previously role with the Civil Aviation Authority as Drone Unit Lead, I had regular contact with Ashley and was very impressed with his experience and capabilities from his decades of work at Gatwick Airport in the airside environment.
Following recent expansion of our Counter Drone Unit in protecting critical infrastructure and major events, I felt Ashley was the ideal person to take charge of this growing area. He will be able to provide our aviation, government, major events and private sector clients around the world with expert advice on dealing with the potential threats posed by drones”
Ashley commented on his new role: “I am very excited to be joining a company with such a great experience and depth of knowledge of the positive uses of drones and the problems associated with unauthorised drones in airport environments. Many airports and public safety agencies want to learn from what happened with the UK airport drone incidents, and I am looking forward to helping them protect their airports and critical infrastructure.”
