(Adnkronos) – The unmanned aerial vehicles sighted repeatedly in Germany at the end of last week reportedly deliberately flew over important critical infrastructure to monitor it. German authorities are investigating this, according to what Der Spiegel reveals today. Among the targets were a power plant, Kiel University Hospital, and even the regional government headquarters. According to local officials, shortly after 9 PM on Thursday, two small drones initially flew over the Thyssenkrupp factory site. Shortly after, a “swarm of drones with a mother drone” was sighted over the university hospital. Around 10 PM, a similar formation appeared over the coastal power plant and the Kiel Canal.
A large stationary drone and several small flying objects were subsequently observed over the Kiel Fjord. The Landeshaus Kiel, the seat of the state parliament, was also flown over, according to security force sources. Furthermore, the Heide refinery, the company that supplies Hamburg Airport with kerosene, was also apparently spied on by the drone swarm. An internal note states that the state police noticed, observing the drones, that they flew along parallel orbital paths, with the apparent objective of precisely measuring structures on the ground. According to the newspaper, a large part of the Kiel Canal was flown over from east to west.
The state government was very cautious in its communications following the incident. The Interior Minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Sabine Sütterlin-Waack (CDU), announced that authorities were investigating a suspected case of espionage, but she did not provide details or indicate the route taken by the drones to fly over critical infrastructure. The Federal Ministry of the Interior also refused to provide details.
The sighting over Schleswig-Holstein was not the only security-related drone incident recorded last week. According to SPIEGEL, suspicious drones were also sighted over the Bundeswehr base in Sanitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, on Thursday. The next day, a similar incident occurred over the naval command in Rostock. On Monday, the Federal Police again sighted several suspicious drones in the Rostock port area.
The sightings are similar to those that occurred in Denmark, where larger drones have also recently appeared. Due to the increasing number of unknown drone sightings, the German government intends to establish a joint defense center for police authorities and the Bundeswehr, presumably within the Federal Police. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt stated that there is a threat that could certainly be classified as “high”.
Dobrindt also intends to soon introduce a law that would allow the Bundeswehr to shoot down drones in an emergency; until now, this has only been possible over or near barracks. The biggest problem, however, remains the timely reconnaissance of drones. Since the aircraft often do not appear on conventional radars, nowadays they are usually detected only by visual contact.
