Protection against Unmanned Aircraft Systems : handbook on UAS risk assessment and principles for physical hardening of buildings and sites

The purpose of the current handbook is to provide guidance to security and law enforcement oficials, building/site owners, venue organisers, state organisations, engineers and other stakeholders in charge of securing infrastructure and public spaces against the growing international threat posed by the malicious use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), commonly referred to as drones. The focus narrows down into recommendations for a robust and usable approach for the physical hardening of non-military infrastructures and public spaces against this borderless phenomenon. It addresses shortcomings encountered in the design of such security solutions and aims at producing a simple, self-contained guide to help select appropriate measures that are able to mitigate and/or deter potential attacks. This handbook is a key component of the European Commission's C-UAS package initiative, announced as a flagship action under the Commission communication 'A drone strategy 2.0 for a smart and sustainable unmanned aircraft ecosystem in Europe'. This package includes a dedicated C-UAS communication (COM) outlining the main ideas for the EU's future policy on how to address the potential threats posed by UAS. As part of the COM's recurrent drive to provide continuous practical support to EU Member States and private stakeholders, JRC has produced two handbooks; the first concerns a five phase approach to evaluate the needs of a C-UAS solution and how to start, define risks, design, implement and operate it, while the second (current handbook) contains a series of recommendations for assessing the risk stemming from the malicious use of UAS complemented with advice regarding the physical hardening of non-military infrastructures against such threats.