A golden eagle grapples with a
drone in an aerial battle above an
airbase in southwestern France.
Four golden eagles have been
trained by the French military to
tear invading drones from the sky.
D’Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and
Aramis (named after characters
from The Three Musketeers) were
hatched out and fed on top of
drones, to create an association
between food and the flying bots.
It takes around eight months to
train the eagles, with a chunk of
meat given as a reward after each
successful capture.
The unusual technique has been
adopted amid worries about rogue
drones being used to spy or launch
attacks on French soil, after drones
flew over the Élysée Palace in Paris
and a restricted military site in
Brittany in 2015.
The musketeers have created
such a buzz that the French air
force is reported to have ordered
a second brood of avian allies,
expected to begin training this
summer.
PHOTO: Getty
Hunting
Machines
Mont-de-Marsan, France