Unknown drones circling over military and industrial facilities have already become almost commonplace in Germany.
In Rhineland-Palatinate, drones flew over the US military base in Ramstein several times in December. Drones also observed the BASF plant in Ludwigshafen and the LNG terminal in Stade. Amal Berlin.
Experts suggest that the drones are Russian, and also accuse German security forces of not taking the threat seriously enough.
Two days before Christmas Eve in Dorsten in the Ruhr region, the Bundeswehr security service issued a night alert due to three drones circling over a large ammunition depot.
In Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea, several drones monitored the naval base and surrounding areas. And then they also flew calmly, as if nothing had happened. The fact that drones are spotted specifically over military and industrial facilities raises suspicion – security agencies claim Russian espionage. In addition, drones are too large and fast to be controlled by civilians.
The head of parliamentary control over the intelligence services in the Bundestag, Konstantin von Notz, says that drone flights in Germany are now reported “almost every day”, and espionage can often be assumed. Although these drones do not shoot down.
The reason for this likely Russian activity is Germany’s support for Ukraine and a clear position on the Kremlin. Although official information about drones remains vague. The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) only states that since the beginning of the war there has been an “increase in the number of sightings of drones over critical infrastructure.”
A Bundeswehr spokesman said that “several hundred possible drone flights over Bundeswehr installations have been reported in recent years.” There is no evidence of espionage, but everything is so obvious that it is not needed.
From the moment we began training Ukrainian soldiers in Germany, barracks and military sites began to be monitored, says Inspector General Carsten Breuer. According to him, at first these were single drones, but now they are entire groups.
In Wildflecken in Bavaria, one of the Ukrainian military’s training grounds, the Bundeswehr spotted two large aircraft with a wingspan of more than a meter, accompanied by about 15 small drones. “You can’t buy drones like this from MediaMarkt,” Breuer sneers.
According to Der Spiegel, a car with Russian diplomatic license plates was parked in front of one of the barracks in Brandenburg. Only when German soldiers approached the car did the uninvited guests leave.
According to German law, drones can only fly over certain areas with permission. And they can’t do it at all over military and industrial facilities. If drones enter restricted airspace, local police are usually responsible for protection. However, in the case of railway facilities and 13 airports it is the Federal Police, and in the case of military facilities it is also the Bundeswehr.
Civilian drones can be stopped and safely landed, including with the help of electronic warfare systems, but with military drones everything is more difficult. Incidents over the past few months make it clear how poorly prepared German security authorities are to counter the Russian airborne threat.
In August, for example, drones were spotted several times over the largest industrial park in Schleswig-Holstein. Local law enforcement turned to the federal police and BKA for technical support. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, security forces used “all technologies available to the German police.” But to no avail. Investigators say some of the drones were too fast, too big and too powerful.
It is also unknown where exactly the drones are launched from. There is no evidence that the drones were launched from ships in the North or Baltic Seas, nor directly from Russia. At the same time, the Flensburg prosecutor’s office is considering suspicion of “undercover activity with sabotage purposes.”
Jan Kürschner calls the events in Schleswig-Holstein “an alarm bell.” According to him, this incident shows that Germany “slept for a long time”, and the world has long been in a state of “new Cold War”.
According to the head of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Internal Affairs, Daniela Behrens, “the police currently do not have the appropriate means” to combat military drones. However, the minister believes that it is unlikely that the purpose of these flights is reconnaissance, because all the information can be obtained using satellites. a test of what we can do, Behrens suggests.
At the land level, they are already ready to spend additional funding on protection against espionage and sabotage. The federal police also announced additional funding “to expand the capabilities of protection against drones.”
However, the Bundeswehr already has appropriate defense technology for drones. However, it is only deployed during special events – for example, during the G7 summit at a castle in Bavaria in 2022. powerful electronic jamming technology. But such systems are not suitable for protecting several thousand objects. critical infrastructure throughout the country
Shooting down potential military drones is still prohibited due to the danger to densely populated areas, they say in Lower Saxony. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Schleswig-Holstein, however, is already holding consultations on this matter. However, he admits that one must first assess “what harm a crashed drone could cause.”
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.