German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt warned that the threat from unmanned aerial vehicles has reached a level that can be classified as “high,” saying officials nationwide are on heightened alert after drone incursions in Denmark that forced multiple air‑traffic shutdowns and prompted investigations into sightings on German soil.
The government said it will pursue legal and operational changes to strengthen responses to hostile or unexplained drone activity, including revisions to the Aviation Security Act to permit greater involvement by the armed forces and to expand detection and interception options for critical infrastructure and large public gatherings.
Berlin has framed the recent incidents as part of a wider regional pattern of aerial provocations, noting similar unexplained drone flights over Poland, Romania, Denmark and Norway and characterizing the situation as a budding “drone arms race” that demands coordinated European countermeasures.
Authorities stressed caution over kinetic responses because downed drones can create hazardous debris in populated areas, and announced stepped‑up investment in non‑kinetic systems—radar, jammers and layered detection networks—alongside large exercises designed to test civilian‑military coordination and rapid response protocols.
