Mapping drone prompts PLA to scramble fighter jets, mobilise troops: official media
Two men arrested and a third detained after mass mobilisation of troops and vehicles in response to drone spotted near Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing
China deployed more than 1,200 troops and scrambled fighter jets in response to an unauthorised flight near Beijing airport by what turned out to be a mapping drone, state-run media reported on Thursday.
Three men are being prosecuted over the incident, the said.
It cited prosecutors as saying that 1,226 military personnel, 123 military vehicles, 26 radar technicians, two fighter jets and two helicopters were sent into action after the aircraft was spotted on radar screens.
Police arrested two men as they flew the drone and a third confessed later, according to the official newspaper. All three men worked for an aviation technology company, the report said, and the 2.3-metre-long drone was intended to be used for survey and mapping purposes.
China forbids any flights, manned or unmanned, without prior approval from the air force, civil aviation authorities and the local air traffic control bureau.
A New Zealand man was briefly detained by police in June after he flew a camera-equipped drone over the Forbidden City, which sits next to Zhongnanhai, China’s top-secret leadership compound.
