Dangerous encounters between drones and manned aircraft are increasingly occurring in German airspace.
According to German air traffic control (DFS), 208 dangerous obstructions to air traffic caused by unmanned aircraft have already been registered in the current year up to and including November. That is significantly more than the 149 incidents in the same period last year. The annual high from 2024 with 161 cases has already been exceeded.
Basically, it is registered when unmanned flying objects have come dangerously close to civil aircraft or air traffic facilities. Operations are repeatedly stopped at large airports when drones are spotted in restricted areas. Most of the time it remains unclear who controls the drones. In addition to inexperienced hobby pilots, the authorities are increasingly suspecting secret service or terrorist backgrounds.
Federal police with additional detection
Most of the evidence about drones comes from commercial pilots, tower controllers or, since this year, from newly set up detection systems by the federal police. The more precise controls could have contributed to the increased number of cases.
Almost three quarters (74 percent) of the drones were spotted near larger airports, as the DFS reported on request. There has been a sharp increase at Germany’s largest airport in Frankfurt. Drones have already been spotted there in 45 cases in the eleven months, after only 17 in the same period last year. A drone pilot was arrested. There were also frequent drone alarms in Cologne/Bonn (14 cases), Hamburg (13) and Munich (12). The capital airport in Berlin, which was still conspicuous last year, had 8 sightings.
When a drone is spotted, air traffic control assumes that regular air traffic will be disrupted because controllers and pilots could be distracted. In Germany, drone flights are prohibited near airport take-off and landing areas – a distance of at least 1.5 kilometers must be maintained. Drone flights at airports are considered a dangerous interference with air traffic and can be punished with prison sentences of up to ten years.
Drone defense specialists like DroneShield are in demand>/h2>
The increasing threat posed by unmanned flying objects is a direct reason why the shares of the Australian company DroneShield are in such strong investor focus. The company is a pure specialist in counter-UAS (C-UAS) technology, i.e. for the detection and defense of drones. In view of the greatly increased number of dangerous drone incidents in German airspace reported by the German Air Traffic Control (DFS) (208 cases by November, significantly more than in the previous year) and the suspected secret service or terrorist background, there is an acute need for such protection systems. DroneShield is seen in the market as a direct beneficiary of growing global and local security needs, as its solutions (e.g. drone detection sensors and jammers) can be used to directly mitigate this emerging threat.
Armaments giants also in focus
The boom in the defense sector is not limited to drone defense, but encompasses the entire spectrum Defense industry. Three of the most important German players in this area are Rheinmetall, RENK and HENSOLDT, whose share prices have risen massively since the beginning of the geopolitical change and the introduction of special funds to strengthen Europe’s defense capacity. As the largest German arms company, Rheinmetall is a key producer of ammunition, tanks and military systems. HENSOLDT is a specialist in sensors, radar and defense electronics, which are crucial for air defense and reconnaissance. As a transmission and drive technology specialist, RENK focuses primarily on components for heavy military vehicles and naval ships. All three companies benefit from bulging order books and the ongoing political signals to permanently increase European defense budgets.
LANGEN (dpa-AFX)
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