For years, unauthorized drone flights over military facilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have raised the question of how the Armed Forces can react without coming into conflict with civilian regulations. That legal vacuum is now closed.
The new Ordinance on the protection of forces from the actions of unmanned aerial vehicles entered into force, which for the first time clearly defined the powers of the Ministry of Defense of BiH and the Armed Forces of BiH for the detection, interference, forced descent, taking control, and even the destruction of unmanned aerial vehicles that enter the protected military space without authorization.
This is a significant change in the system of protection of military facilities, which comes after several incidents in which unidentified drones flew over barracks and weapons warehouses throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. Those cases showed that the military did not have a clear enough legal framework for quick action, which is why the incidents mostly ended with reports to police agencies and lengthy investigations.
The new rulebook introduces a no-fly zone in a radius of 500 meters around every military-controlled area, at all altitudes. This means that without prior approval from the Ministry of Defense, any flight of an unmanned aerial vehicle is prohibited, regardless of whether it is recreational, commercial or aerial photography.
Any unauthorized entry of a drone into this zone will from now on be automatically treated as a security threat, and the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be given the opportunity to react immediately, without prior coordination with civil institutions responsible for air traffic.
A special novelty refers to the method of neutralizing aircraft. Instead of using firearms, which can pose a serious risk in populated areas, the army will primarily use so-called non-kinetic means.
These include electronic jamming of communication frequencies, taking control of the drone in flight, cybernetic methods and the use of electromagnetic systems that can force the aircraft to land.
Only when other measures do not yield results or the threat requires a more decisive response, the regulation leaves the possibility for the complete destruction of the unmanned aerial vehicle.
Previous practice has shown that members of the Armed Forces in certain situations were exposed to legal uncertainty because there was no by-law that would precisely regulate their actions in the event of the downing of someone else’s aircraft. The new rulebook was designed to eliminate such dilemmas and enable faster protection of military facilities and personnel.
By introducing these rules, Bosnia and Herzegovina follows the trend applied by numerous European countries in recent years, and raises the security of military locations to a higher level at a time when unmanned aerial vehicles are increasingly being used for civilian and security-sensitive purposes. From now on, any unauthorized drone that enters the protected military space will be able to be neutralized immediately, without waiting for additional administrative procedures, it says. Zenit.
