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.
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.
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