The German Armed Forces are accelerating the deployment of drone defense units across the country, according to information from the German news magazine Der Spiegel.
In the wake of a series of unauthorized drone sightings over sensitive military facilities, the Bundeswehr has issued a high-priority directive to establish rapid response elements, trained to deploy within 72 hours with available counter-drone technologies. The initial focus will be on protecting “especially endangered assets, activities and special projects” with examples including air force bases and training programs for the Ukrainian military.
The units, comprising specially trained personnel, have already begun their training, with the first reporting their readiness for deployment in early June. The Bundeswehr is reacting to the increasingly frequent unauthorized drone incursions over its military facilities, including a March incident in which several drones were spotted in the airspace over the Marine base in Wilhelmshaven, the largest military facility in the country.
To equip the new units with the necessary counter-drone technologies, the Bundeswehr plans to rapidly procure a large quantity of available systems. These will include network-enabled drones from the startup Argus Interception, which can intercept and capture potential hostile drones and then transport them to a secure location for disposal.
The plan also calls for a significant increase in the inventory of shoulder-launched jamming devices, designed to disrupt the connection between a drone and its operator, as well as the procurement of fire control systems for assault rifles to be used in close-range drone countermeasures. The Bundeswehr aims to acquire an additional 175 of the HP-47 systems, bringing the total to 542 and 2,288 of the “Smash” systems, designed for kinetic drone countermeasures in the near field, by the end of 2029. Furthermore, the plan envisions the procurement of 47 additional Skyranger systems, a mobile air defense system, by the end of the same year.