The Congress of Peru has passed a bill on airspace control and surveillance allowing the Air Force of Peru (FAP) to shoot down aircrafts when there is "reasonable suspicion" that they are engaged in illicit drug trafficking.
The initiative was unanimously approved at the afternoon session of 20 August with 89 votes in favor, after an extensive debate that began in the morning.
The alternative bill, introduced by the Defense Commission Chairman Emiliano Apaza, states that suspicious airships must assume a “hostile” attitude in the Peruvian airspace before interdiction is implemented.
According to the ruling, the use of force will be justified only if applied as a measure of last resort, when all other methods of persuasion have been exhausted and when anyone might reasonably conclude that invasion of Peruvian airspace is aimed at causing death, severe injury to people, major environmental damage and serious property harm.
Aircrafts classified as hostile are those that fail to fly along predetermined corridors set by authorities or those that fly above 3,000 feet within 40 nautical miles, among other 15 situations.
Details of the ruling were explained by the author of the initiative, Carlos Tubino, who said crafts with no insignia are considered as hostile, too.
(END) JRM/ASH/RMB/MVB
Published: 8/21/2015