More Than 1,000 Suspicious Drone Flights Detected Across Germany This Year
Germany has recorded more than 1,000 suspicious drone flights so far this year, underscoring growing concerns over security risks to military sites and critical infrastructure.
The Gaze informs about it, referring to Welt.
Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) said the figure is drawn from a newly compiled internal federal threat assessment that for the first time systematically tracks drones as potential tools for criminal and hostile activity. The report aggregates all identified suspicious incidents and also incorporates data provided by Germany’s armed forces.
The head of the BKA, Holger Münch, said the most frequent targets included military facilities, airports, and other elements of critical infrastructure, such as arms manufacturers and port installations. Speaking to German media, Münch warned that authorities are facing a “clearly elevated threat level.”
Asked whether the drone activity could be directly attributed to Russian actors, Münch said investigators cannot make definitive claims in every case. Identifying and interrogating drone operators remains extremely difficult, he noted. Nevertheless, authorities suspect that many incidents appear to involve state-directed operations intended to create uncertainty and exert psychological pressure.
Beyond intimidation, drones may also be used for intelligence gathering. Münch pointed in particular to repeated overflights of military sites in Germany where Ukrainian soldiers are being trained. He warned that drones could detect and log nearby smartphones, potentially allowing those devices – and their users – to be identified later in combat zones in Ukraine.
In response to the rising threat, the German federal government and state authorities last week inaugurated the Joint Counter-Drone Center (GDAZ) in Berlin. The new hub is designed to improve the detection, analysis, and neutralization of illegally operated drones and is expected to begin full operations in January.
As The Gaze previously reported, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Putin will not stop at Ukraine, wants to restore the USSR, and poses a military threat to the former Soviet states.
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