Dobrindt said that Germany was the target of hybrid attacks every day as an economically and politically important country at the heart of Europe. “Anyone targeting Germany is targeting all of Europe,” Dobrindt said.
Espionage, sabotage, destabilization, influence operations, and manipulation were all part of this threat in a “shadow war of the 21st century,” the minister said.
The potential danger posed by drones was demonstrated two weeks ago at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where an armed drone was discovered between Ukrainian cargo aircraft in an incident seen by prosecutors as a “serious attack on Germany’s transport and logistics infrastructure.”
“Leipzig is not an isolated case; Leipzig is part of a larger pattern that we are dealing with,” Dobrindt said. It has not yet been established who was behind the incident.
Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär pointed to Russia’s war against Ukraine. The war had demonstrated that drones were becoming increasingly capable and acquiring new abilities, she said.
In his speech, Dobrindt described an arms race between drone defence systems and technologies designed to overcome these defences. Defence capabilities must keep pace with this, he said.
Cochstedt is intended primarily to enable practical testing. Companies and security authorities will be able to test and further develop new technologies there under conditions that are as realistic as possible.
According to DLR chief executive Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, around 40 people currently work permanently at the Cochstedt site, with the number expected to rise to 65.
Dobrindt announced that Federal Police’s mobile drone defence unit would be doubled to 300 personnel. It is to be equipped with modern technology and deployed from more locations across Germany.
The technology centre is part of a broader drone defence strategy that Dobrindt has discussed with state-level interior ministers. One element is a drone defence unit within the Federal Police.
A second component is a joint federal-state drone defence centre, where various security agencies and other institutions will exchange information and coordinate efforts.
Research in Cochstedt represents the third component. The centre will test technologies for the safe use of drones, as well as technologies for detecting and defending against aircraft being used for malicious purposes.
Source : dpa
