Technology to rapidly locate, identify and track illegal drone aircraft and their operators has been developed by the ECA Group of France.

Groupe Gorgé, parent company of ECA Group, said the technology is for use by its IT180 drone and includes a number of transponders.

"After detecting the offending drone through land-based resources, the strategy consists of activating the IT180 drone: First, it will locate the operator using its on-board technology; second, it will approach and identify the operator using its cameras," the company said.

"Unlike the solutions available until now, which focus mainly on the neutralization of drones in flight, ECA Group has developed a solution that makes it impossible for malicious operators to disappear. This new system enables security forces to approach them discreetly and to catch them in the act of committing the offense, while collecting all the evidence required for future prosecution."

Group Gorge said the detection system has been assessed by the French government. During its testing it located and identified illegal drone operators within a 700-yard radius in under a minute after detecting their drones in flight over a sensitive area.

Additional details about the system were not disclosed.