Germany pledged to tighten security laws to allow for faster detection and destruction of drones after a series of incursions in recent days culminated in the closure of Munich’s airport overnight.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization and its members have witnessed a sharp increase in drone sightings over military installation and critical infrastructure in recent weeks.
European security officials said they suspect Russia of being behind the flights despite the absence of hard evidence. They said Moscow might be testing NATO members’ air defenses, seeking to deter them from supporting Ukraine, or simply trying to provoke an overreaction.
In the latest incident, Munich Airport, Germany’s second largest, grounded flights late Thursday after several drone sightings. Some 17 flights were canceled, stranding 3,000 passengers in the Bavarian capital, where the Oktoberfest festival is wrapping up. The airport said flights had resumed since 5 a.m. Friday, a national holiday in Germany. Police said they didn’t manage to intercept the drones or detain their pilots.
On Friday, Belgium’s Defense Ministry said it was investigating overnight drone sightings above Elsenborn military base in the east of the country, about a five-minute drive from the German border.
The incidents follow a string of sightings in northern Germany at the end of last month. Officials said several drones, including large crafts flying in formation with smaller ones, had been observed flying over military installations and critical infrastructure such as ports. The pattern suggests the drones could have been used to map sensitive locations.
Last month, NATO warplanes shot down several Russian drones over Poland and intercepted Russian warplanes that violated Estonia’s airspace. In Denmark, drone incursions temporarily closed several airports, including in Copenhagen, the busiest in Scandinavia. Drones were spotted over an air force base housing most of Denmark’s F-16 and F-35 jet fighters. Danish authorities said the drones were launched from the country’s vicinity by “professional” operators.
Russia has denied being behind the drone incidents and accused European countries of using them to justify ramping up military spending.
Asked by a journalist on Thursday why Russia was flying drones over Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to make light of the situation. “I’ll stop, I won’t send any more drones to France, Denmark, Copenhagen. Where else have they been flying?” he joked.
On Friday, French authorities released a vessel carrying Russian crude oil that was detained on the Atlantic coast because of its suspected involvement in the incursions over Denmark. President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said French authorities hadn’t established a link between the vessel and the drones.
“There is a technological arms race between drone threats and drone defenses, both in the hybrid and military realms,” said German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt , adding that the government would expedite existing plans to deal with the threat.
German government and security officials said some of the drone overflights are likely part of a broader campaign of intimidation being waged by Russia against European NATO members, including sabotage and cyberattacks. Many drone sightings, they said, remain unreported.
So far, however, European officials have insisted the targeted countries should exercise restraint in shooting down unauthorized drones, partly because of the risks this could pose in densely populated areas and partly not to encourage Russia to escalate. But the rapid increase in sightings is raising public pressure to react.
Denmark closed its airspace to all drones during last week’s European Union summit and has accepted offers of antidrone systems and navy patrols by other NATO members. The EU is considering the deployment of a “drone wall” along its eastern borders to prevent Russian drone incursions.
“From now on, we must shoot, not wait,” Markus Söder , premier of the German state of Bavaria, told the Bild newspaper on Friday. “We need control over our skies.” Söder said Bavaria would pass a law beefing up police powers to intervene.
Berlin is a key supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion. It is Kyiv’s second largest weapon supplier after the U.S. and recently lifted its opposition to using around $200 billion in confiscated Russian assets to fund arms purchases by Ukraine.
Germany has been ramping up investments in drone defenses, equipping the military and police with drone jammers and interceptors. In Hamburg last week, the Bundeswehr demonstrated a system produced by German defense startup Argus Interception.
The company’s drone can automatically track hostile drones and capture them in a net before bringing them back to base. The Bundeswehr said it had already deployed the system. Yet bureaucratic bottlenecks have slowed the policing effort.
Germany’s armed forces have authority to intercept drones but only while they are flying over military installations. Airports, railways, ports and the borders fall in the federal police’s remit. Everywhere else, state police are in charge. Companies, such as port operators or defense manufacturers, are banned from interfering with drones in any way.
This web of responsibilities has made it hard for authorities to react speedily because drones often spend just minutes flying over a given installation.
The country is amending laws governing the competence of the federal police and air security to speed up drone detection and interception and stiffen penalties for unauthorized drone pilots. It is also setting up a “drone competence center” to better coordinate such operations.
Write to Bertrand Benoit at bertrand.benoit@wsj.com and Joyu Wang at joyu.wang@wsj.com
