Suspicious drones have been spying on military installations in Germany for more than a year, including those where German instructors train Ukrainian soldiers, but German security forces have not yet managed to jam any of them and have little evidence about who is behind them, reports German newspaper Bild.
Since October 2022, the drones have been actively spotted in places where the Bundeswehr trains Ukrainians. The then commander of the German territorial command, Gen. Carsten Breuer, instructed military police to use HP 47 radio jamming transmitters, which could theoretically force the drones to land. However, the effectiveness of the HP 47 was not sufficient. No further action was taken against the drones, and they continue to fly away.
Defense analyst and Bundestag member Markus Faber noted that drones are regularly seen over the Klitz military training ground, where the Bundeswehr trains Ukrainians with tanks.
“At other facilities, several drones sometimes enter the airspace at the same time. This is clearly organized and strongly points to Russia,” he says.
The German Ministry of Defense suspects that Moscow is behind the drones, but they cannot prove their theory, as they have not yet managed to land a single drone, let alone find out who is operating the machines.
On Nov. 14, 2023, the Bundeswehr set up a drone detection task force. As State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Defense Nils Hilmer explained to German MPs, the task force must first clarify to the German Interior Ministry who is responsible for defending against drones and what they are allowed to do to bring them down.
The unit must also investigate what anti-drone equipment works and how quickly these units can be purchased. At the same time, the publication points out that after two months, there are still no tangible results.
