Asian Hornet threat

Do others live with this threat to honey bees? The Asian hornet (frelon asiatique) has been spreading north from the south of France for the last few years and is yet another threat for beekeepers to deal with. A few of them are reputed to wipe out a whole hive. They are vastly more aggressive to bees than normal hornets and look a bit smaller with a brown band.
I was concerned to read they've just discovered a nest of them at Montreuil Bellay which is very close to where we live. As they've only discovered the nest, this must mean the queens have already mated and gone off to hibernate somewhere, ready to start causing problems from the spring.
I'd be interested to hear if anyone else lives in an area where they are prevalent how they manage to protect the bees from being destroyed by these pernicious alien predators, as we may well have to do something about them this coming year.

Not yet seen any here, but in the summer I watched a normal hornet swoop down onto the landing ledge and carry off a poor worker bee. It landed on one of the nearby poplars and proceeded to disect it's victim within sight of the hive. Watching that slick manouver was pretty astonishing, I hope my bees never get raided by the Asian type.

Picture with scale anyone?