Six "Russian" drones scan 'secret' German base, authorities fail to bring them down

The Bundeswehr, the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany, recorded six instances of aerial drone flights over a "particularly sensitive" military location in Germany on January 6. According to an internal report cited by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the suspicious activity was observed at an air base near the North Sea, where Ukrainian personnel are reportedly training to use the Patriot missile system.

The German military tried to use jamming equipment, but failed to bring the drones down. Efforts to find the pilots were also unsuccessful. The main suspect is the Russian Federation, although this has not yet been confirmed.

This is not the first time that unidentified "UAVs" have been found near military and critical infrastructure in Germany, and such incidents have become routine since the federal government organized special training courses for Ukrainian military personnel in the country. Reports of drone alerts date back to at least October 2022, when the response was limited to attempts to electronically block them using HP 47 portable weapons by local police.

In the period 2023-2024, illegal drone activity was also detected in the training areas of "Leopard" tanks, energy infrastructure and chemical plants.

The main reason why these flights continue without any decisive response from the German military, as previously explained by Bild and Hartpunkt, was the debate about risks and responsibilities.