Critical infrastructure: Bundeswehr to be allowed to shoot down drones

Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the German government has registered a significant increase in drone incidents in Germany. Espionage or planned acts of sabotage could be behind this. The executive therefore now reportedly wants to allow the German armed forces to shoot down such unmanned flying objects over military and industrial facilities in Germany for security purposes. This is provided for in a draft amendment to the German Aviation Security Act, which the Federal Cabinet intends to launch on Wednesday. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (both SPD) already agreed on this in principle in mid-December.

The armed forces are to be allowed to use armed force against unmanned aerial vehicles in dangerous situations to support the police authorities in the future, writes Der Spiegel. According to the plan, soldiers could shoot down drones using ground-based air defense systems, for example. The use of fighter jets that could neutralize drones with guided missiles would also be possible.

The government justifies the initiative by stating that unmanned drones are repeatedly flying illegally over critical infrastructure facilities (Kritis) in Germany. This relates to the energy, telecommunications, transport and industrial sectors, for example. These are presumably "carried out by a state actor for sabotage and possibly terrorist purposes", it says. Firing with military means is therefore potentially the only effective countermeasure.

Concerns about fast fixed-wing aircraft

The number of drone sightings in the Bundeswehr alone according to WDR and NDR rose from 172 in 2022 to 446 in 2023. The security authorities suspected that Russia was using the aircraft to spy on the training of Ukrainian soldiers in Germany, for example. Meanwhile, drones flying at speeds of over 100 km/h have appeared at industrial parks, a shut-down nuclear power plant, an LNG terminal, over the BASF site in Ludwigshafen and the Ramstein military airfield. These were obviously not quadrocopters flown by hobby pilots, but fixed-wing aircraft for exploring larger areas at high flight speeds.

The Aviation Security Act currently only allows the German armed forces to use fairly lenient means. For example, the armed forces are allowed to force down flying objects in airspace, force them to land, threaten the use of armed force or fire warning shots. Shoot-downs to supplement police actions are now to be considered above all when there is a threat of catastrophic damage or danger to life and limb. Examples cited include an airplane or train accident, a power grid failure or an imminent terrorist attack.

(vbr)