This weeks drama over the Islington Temporary Danger Area (TDA) has meant that I have to sit down and look at how the UK got to where it is and where it is potentially going.
If I were a betting man I would put money on the Met Police and NPCC trying to run a trial as a state operated aircraft without the full blessing of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The CAA were then placed in a corner and to protect other airspace users created a TDA (Temporary Danger Area).
The 10 nautical square chunk of airspace for police use had the potential to stop any commercial or private drone flights when operational. This happened at very short notice, reminding me of another similar occurrence last year east of London at Gravesend.
Testing larger drones beyond visual line of sight in a built up area is not without risk, especially if a fly away occurs. A fly away that potentially could affect, Heathrow, London City, Elstree and Stapleford. A great deal of helicopter GA traffic, route around that side of London avoiding the specified area. I have reached out to the drone unit but have received no response as to what they were intending to fly.
So how did we get to a place where there is one team made up of two sides.
Britain’s police air support has evolved from bits and pieces into a single, nationally coordinated service.
Early aerial policing began in the 1920s, with an airship helping manage traffic at the Epsom and Ascot races in 1921. Later, a police autogyro provided surveillance during the 1936 Battle of Cable Street.
Post-war, the idea gained traction. In 1964, the forces of Cheshire, Staffordshire, and Lancashire teamed up to lease a helicopter for M6 motorway patrols.
Growth became fragmented in the late 20th century. The Metropolitan Police formed its dedicated unit in 1970, and by the 1980s and 1990s, police forces increasingly established their own air units or consortia. By 2009, this had resulted in a costly and inefficient patchwork of arrangements across the country.
Recognising the fragmentation, a national review led to the creation of the National Police Air Service (NPAS) on October 1, 2012.
NPAS centralized the system, replacing individual units with a single, coordinated service funded by all 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. West Yorkshire Police acts as the lead force.
The primary argument propelling the drone revolution is financial. Philip Wilkinson, the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Wiltshire, has been a vocal proponent of ending the indefinite government contract with the National Police Air Service (NPAS), which costs his force £700,000 annually. “If I could invest in drones, I’d have a really enhanced police aviation support system,” Mr Wilkinson stated, arguing that police forces can deliver most air support missions using drones. He is also a champion for domestic industry, expressing his determination to use “British drones for British police forces,” noting that advanced systems are set to be built in Swindon.
Beyond the balance sheet, drones offer significant environmental benefits. An EC135 helicopter burns up to 200 litres of fuel an hour, while the Schiebel S-100 drone being trialled by NPAS uses just 10 litres per hour, slashing CO2 emissions by 90%.
Operationally, the results are undeniable. An NPCC update revealed that between October 2024 and March 2025, police drones were deployed 26,584 times, leading to the location of 721 suspects, 649 missing people, and 163 vehicles. Their tactical advantages are vast.
Network Rail and the British Transport Police (BTP), for instance, now use drones with high-quality zoom and thermal imaging to track down trespassers on railway lines. Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, praised the initiative: “We’re already seeing the benefits of having this technology, in terms of finding people quickly and reducing the length of delays for passengers”.
Furthermore, drones provide a subtlety that a helicopter cannot. As one Drones Team Officer explained, the “big whirly bird up in the sky is generally quite noisy,” which can disrupt the activity police are observing. In contrast, a drone “can be a little bit more erm covert… it doesn’t immediately disrupt the goings on the ground”.
NPAS maintains that drones are not yet a silver bullet. Chief Superintendent Fiona Gaffney, Chief Operating Officer at NPAS, argues they are not a direct replacement for crewed aircraft, particularly for complex incidents. “These are often time-critical and require capabilities that drones currently cannot match,” she said. The core of her argument lies in human experience. “The value of the human eye cannot be underestimated, and only with crewed aircraft can you get the full benefit of air support,” she stated.
To test these very capabilities, NPAS has launched one of the UK’s most ambitious drone trials, a six-month project operating from Avonmouth Helipad near Bristol and spanning the Severn Estuary.
This trial, part of the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) BVLOS Integration Sandbox, is a collaboration between NPAS, the CAA, and NATS (National Air Traffic Control Service). The goal is to explore the feasibility of using large drones, operating Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), to replicate current helicopter missions. The trial highlights the core challenge of replacing human intuition. David Walters, Head of Futures and Innovation at NPAS, noted that often “it’s the eyes in the helicopter looking out and going there’s a person in a blue coat is that the missing person… my challenge is now how do I do that with just a camera?”. This has led NPAS to explore using artificial intelligence to review video feeds in real time. The ultimate vision for NPAS is not total replacement, but a “blended fleet” of helicopters, aeroplanes, and uncrewed aircraft, with a target deployment of 2030.
Police drone operations fall outside the scope of main civilian regulations. The NPCC has successfully launched a bespoke ‘third way’ in the regulatory sphere, flying as “state aircraft for state needs”.
This special status, which requires a Flight Clearance from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) or Ministry of Defence (MOD) rather than a standard permit, was established with the CAA and enables police pilots to “fly further, higher and closer to people in support of our core objectives”.
While this exempts police from certain standard rules, it does not create a free-for-all; the CAA ensures all operations take “due regard of the safety objectives” of aviation law, and the requirement to not recklessly endanger any person or property remains firmly in place.
The NPCC has launched a major programme to bring order to the rapidly evolving world of police drones after a 2023 review found forces developing capabilities “in silo,” leading to “extensive duplication of work”. The vision is one of “National Strategy – Local Delivery”. This involves creating a ‘Centre of Excellence’ to develop national standards and a new Authorised Professional Practice (APP) to guide all forces.
The NPCC is an advocate of Drone as First Responder (DFR) programmes. This involves placing autonomous drones in rooftop boxes at strategic locations, ready to be launched by a control room in response to an emergency call. The BTP is the first force to operationalise this “drone in a box” technology. Trials are underway with Norfolk Constabulary, a partnership between Hampshire, Isle of Wight & Thames Valley, and soon West Midlands Police. The goal is to get “livetime situational awareness” to commanders before officers arrive, improving officer safety and decision-making.
The expansion of drone use raises significant public concerns about surveillance, transparency, and trust. The definition of surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) is itself a grey area; surveillance is ‘covert’ if subjects are unaware it is taking place. While police insist their use is overt, often launched by uniformed officers, they also acknowledge using smaller drones to avoid attracting attention. This challenge is compounded by BVLOS capability, which will make it much harder for the public to identify a police drone.
This tension between operational security and public transparency in the case of the Islington TDA has been taken up by Ian Hudson, he has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the CAA. The request sought basic details, including “what platform (make/model) and reason for the flight” was being used, as well as communications between the CAA CEO and Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor of the Met Police.
Obtaining such information, however, may prove difficult. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has a history of withholding detailed information about its drone operations. In previous requests, the MPS has refused to disclose specifics on drone payloads, operational protocols, and procurement companies, citing risks to law enforcement (Section 31), national security (Section 24), and commercial interests (Section 43). The force argues that releasing such details would reveal tactical capabilities to criminals and terrorists, allowing them to develop countermeasures. The Met has stated that its drones are not combined with facial recognition technology, but the broader operational secrecy can fuel public suspicion.
The NPCC acknowledges this challenge, making it an objective to “develop a strategy for communicating with… the public to ensure legitimacy and a positive perception of police drones”. As one police advisor noted, public engagement is crucial to show that “what we do is catch the bad guys, you know, we aren’t there sitting watching your back door”.
Ultimately, the drone’s journey from a niche tool to a cornerstone of British policing is well underway. High-stakes trials like the one over the Severn Estuary are providing crucial data to shape this future.
Success, as David Walters puts it, is not about immediate implementation but about giving policing “the right insight, context, and experience so they can make the best decision for themselves”.
The ultimate test will be whether this new technology can win the trust of both the police who use it and the public they serve.
Mondays airspace notification appeared as I posted this!
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