Police start testing first set of drones to help firefighters

The Greek Police (ELAS) has started testing the first unarmed aerial vehicle, or drone, it has purchased to improve its security capabilities, Kathimerini has learned.

Sources said that operators have conducted test flights with a drone in Viotia, north of Athens. The first three drones purchased by Greece from an Israeli firm arrived on August 3.

“The political leadership aims for the aircraft to be used for the prevention of fires,” the general secretary for public order, Dimitris Anagnostakis, told Kathimerini.

The drones measure 1.3 meters in length, are 2.4 meters wide and weigh 9 kilos each, sources said. They can fly in a 50-kilometer radius from their base and stay in the air for up to four hours. They are fitted with cameras that can operate in the day and night.

Greece is due to receive another three, slightly larger, drones from its supplier by the end of the year.