Why Bundeswehr is unable to shoot down Russian spy drones over Germany

Western intelligence reports that Russian surveillance drones are actively conducting reconnaissance flights over eastern Germany to monitor arms shipments to Ukraine. In the first three months of 2025, more than 530 drone sightings were recorded. However, the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) cannot intervene in those UAVs.

An article by Euronews claims that the drones aim to track shifting European military transport routes to determine which weapons will reach Ukraine, where new equipment will be deployed, and when ammunition will arrive at the front.

"Russian actors regularly send their reconnaissance aircraft," the article cites three Western intelligence services that earlier spoke to the German WirtschaftsWoche.

A German Ministry of Defence spokesperson told Euronews that the Bundeswehr is responsible only for defending its own sites. Security for other infrastructure, such as train tracks or LNG terminals, falls under the Ministry of the Interior (BMI) and civilian operators.

At the same time, the Bundeswehr follows the principle of proportionality at military sites, ensuring risks or harm to bystanders are avoided, particularly when it is uncertain whether a drone may be carrying explosives.

From January to April of this year alone, more than half a thousand sightings were recorded over Germany.

Between 9 and 29 January, six drones were spotted over the Schwesing airbase near Husum in Schleswig-Holstein. The unmanned aerial vehicles hovered almost motionless over the site for several minutes, and attempts to fend them off using jammers were unsuccessful.

As Euronews notes, the incident is suspected to be targeted espionage, given that Ukrainian soldiers were being trained on Patriot air defence systems at the location.

The investigation has been handed over to the State Criminal Police Office of Schleswig-Holstein. They confirmed to Euronews that they also consider German critical infrastructure a potential target for espionage and sabotage.

Government’s stalled attempts to address threats

The previous coalition government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz had planned to amend the Aviation Security Act to allow the German Armed Forces to shoot down illegally flying, dangerous drones. This measure would have been invoked only if police were technically unable to neutralize the drones and requested military assistance.

However, the amendment was not passed during the last legislative period.

Konstantin von Notz, Green Party member and chairman of the Parliamentary Control Committee, criticised the CDU/CSU alliance, noting they did not support the proposal due to "party tactical considerations."

Sebastian Fiedler, domestic policy spokesperson for the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, emphasised that the Conference of Interior Ministers had already made it clear that responsibility for drone defence must remain with civilian security authorities. According to him, the Bundeswehr could only be involved in exceptional cases, and therefore "the federal government is being asked to build up additional competences in the interior ministry."

Constitutional limits, particularly regarding the deployment of the German Armed Forces domestically, must also be strictly observed. "In view of the months of inactivity on the part of [Interior] Minister Dobrindt, the states have long since run out of patience," said von Notz.

"Overall, this draft also shows that the German government is still not in a position to adequately counter the extreme threats posed by hybrid attacks to our democracy, our economy and our citizens," he warned.

By Nazrin Sadigova