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Air Force Seeks Falcons To Defend Bases From Birds

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The Washington Post

Published: November 9, 2008

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Air Force, a high-tech wonder of precision missiles and pilotless surveillance drones, is looking for a few good falcons.

Live falcons, that is, ones with feathers and talons, the kind that hunt mice and small birds.

U.S. aircraft at the sprawling Bagram air base in Afghanistan are coming under increasing attack - not from al-Qaida or Taliban fighters, but from "many small songbirds, pigeons, Magpies, Hawks and Black Kites," according to a bid request for a "bird control services" contract issued last month. Prior attempts at controlling the birds have failed.

There were more than 100 bird strikes against aircraft taking off, landing or taxiing at Bagram from January to August, a sharp increase from the 60 recorded in the same period last year, according to the contract solicitation. So now the military is seeking a private contractor to provide "personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, falconry and others items and services necessary to perform Bird Control Services at Bagram."

The spike in bird strikes is due to additional flights at Bagram as the pace of U.S. military operations in the country has increased.

Worldwide, bird strikes cost the Air Force about $35 million a year.

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