Germany backs military role in domestic drone defence after sightings
Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, could be allowed to help domestic security agencies protect against drone incursions under a draft bill passed by the Cabinet in Berlin on Wednesday.
The planned reform of the Air Security Act, which requires parliamentary approval, aims to provide a legal framework for military interventions in Germany’s skies.
Under Germany’s constitution, the Basic Law, the Bundeswehr’s domestic operations during peacetime are tightly regulated.
However, a series of recent sightings of drones around critical infrastructure in Germany and other EU countries has led Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government to act.
The draft states that the Bundeswehr could intervene with force or other means, such as jamming technology, against uncooperative drones — but only if a drone is believed to pose a threat to human life or critical infrastructure and no other means can avert the danger.
The reform would also allow federal police to request technical assistance from the military, including the limited use of military equipment under defined conditions.
While most of the measures target threats associated with Russia, the draft also addresses radical activists who disrupt air traffic on runways or aprons.
Such incidents, including demonstrations by climate protesters, have so far been treated as administrative offences, but would in future be classified as criminal acts.
