Interior Ministers See Time Pressure Regarding Drone Defense Capabilities

During a conference call, the federal and state interior ministers emphasized the need to make faster progress in developing the capability to defend against potentially dangerous drones. Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) told the German Press Agency afterward that mutual support, as well as joint research and procurement, are essential. “The Saxon state government, together with the airport operator, is strongly committed to ensuring that Leipzig/Halle is given the highest priority by the federal government when it comes to equipping the airport with drone defense technology and drone detection systems—and is accordingly equipped at the forefront—especially given its central importance as one of Europe’s largest cargo airports,” he added.

Drone Was Modified and Loaded with Explosives

On Tuesday evening last week, a drone loaded with explosives was discovered at the airport among several Ukrainian cargo planes. Security forces classified the incident as very serious. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the investigation. It is referring to a “serious attack on Germany’s transportation and logistics infrastructure.”

What about the ports?

Lower Saxony’s Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) said: “If we look at the federal government’s drone defense plan, airports are included, but unfortunately not all of them—Hanover, for example, is not.” She called this a gap she could not accept. In her view, ports are just as much a part of critical infrastructure as airports. “For example, we still don’t have any concrete plans from the federal government for the ports,” she criticized.

The incident in Leipzig, at the very least, has shown “that we can move a step faster there.” Together with Bremen’s Senator of the Interior, Eva Högl (SPD), she advocated convening a special conference of interior ministers to discuss drone defense in greater depth once again. Högl said there is still “a shortfall in technology, which we must address as quickly as possible.” The situation is serious. 

It’s about capabilities, not jurisdictions

Schuster contradicted some experts and politicians who, following the incident, had criticized the unclear distribution of responsibility among airport operators, state police, federal police, and German Air Traffic Control. There is no question of a “confusion of responsibilities,” said the CDU politician. The real challenge, he added, is to constantly keep the capabilities of all parties involved up to date when it comes to detecting and defending against highly sophisticated drones. 

Behrens Wants Federal Defense System for Hannover Airport

Commenting on the situation at Hannover Airport, Behrens said: “Two days ago, we had a difficult incident in Hannover that could not be handled by the Federal Police’s rapid response unit.” That is why “we also need a system for Hanover, and I believe that is more than justified for Bremen as well.” After a drone was spotted, flight operations at Hannover Airport were temporarily suspended on Monday night.

The Federal Police is responsible for aviation security at 13 German commercial airports. These include Bremen and Hannover. However, these two airports are not among the eight airports identified by the Federal Ministry of the Interior as priorities for the installation of stationary technology to detect and defend against drones.