Drill in Upper Lusatia: Rescue Operations Without Cell Service

During a large-scale exercise at the Oberlausitz military training area in eastern Saxony, the German Armed Forces, the police, and disaster response agencies practiced communicating with one another. Under the slogan “Serving Together. Rescue as a Network. Communicate Securely,” the three-day exercise focused primarily on the use of the BOS digital radio system. It is the nationwide standard for emergency communications. Up to 1,100 people participated. The Federal Cabinet had approved the exercise in the summer of 2025 along with additional key measures for enhanced cybersecurity. 

Unintentionally, the exercise took on special relevance due to the tragic train accident in Spain on Wednesday. According to the exercise scenario, a military transport had collided with a passenger train. Fire departments, disaster response teams, police, and emergency medical services were alerted under the code word MANV. The acronym stands for “mass casualty incident.” The rescue was to take place in a remote area where the cell phone network had also collapsed. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) visited the site on Thursday to assess the situation.