A technology centre for anti-drone defence is to be established in Germany, according to German Interior Minister Alexander Dobryndt and Science Minister Dorothea Beer. It will be located at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) test site in Kochstedt, Saxony-Anhalt. Work on setting up the new centre there will begin as early as 18 August.
“The arms race in the field of unmanned technologies requires specialised research units to keep pace with the times,” said Dobryndt. “We are not at war, but every day we are becoming a target of hybrid warfare.” Dobrindt explained that the centre, which the federal government is establishing in collaboration with the DLR, will develop innovative technologies to defend against UAVs and test them under real-world conditions.
The need to develop drone and anti-drone technologies in Germany has been discussed with renewed vigour following the discovery on 5 August of an unidentified drone carrying explosives and an explosive device at Leipzig-Halle Airport. It was flying at low altitude over the airfield in the immediate vicinity of Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked at the airport. An airport employee managed to shoot down the drone himself and called the police, who classified the incident as a possible breach of national security. The German authorities have not yet commented on the drone’s origin, but the American press, citing sources in the intelligence services, is reporting a possible ‘Russian link’.
Following the drone incident at Leipzig-Halle Airport – a major hub for the global transport of weapons – a mobile special-purpose unit dedicated to countering drones has been put on round-the-clock standby.