Sicherheit vor Drohnen: Neues Zentrum für Drohnensicherheit offiziell eröffnet

A new technology center for drone safety has officially opened in Salzlandkreis, Saxony-Anhalt. At the location of the German Aerospace Center (DLR), technologies for safe use and detection and defense of drones will be developed and tested. Up to ten million euros will be invested in expanding this over the coming years, potentially creating up to 40 new jobs.

The center operates from both Cochstedt and the DLR site in Braunschweig. Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) stated that Germany is a daily target for hybrid attacks, given its central role in Europe's economic, political, and security stability. "Whoever aims at Germany, hits all of Europe," he said. The minister spoke of a technological arms race between drone defense and the technology that overcomes it, with Cochstedt becoming a "central pillar of the security architecture" against such hybrid threats.

The current relevance of the topic was evident at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where a modified drone rigged with explosives was discovered among several Ukrainian freight aircraft. The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office describes this as a "serious attack on Germany's transport and logistics infrastructure." The new center forms the research pillar of a three-pillar strategy by the federal government, which also includes a mobile drone defense unit of the Federal Police and a joint drone defense center of the federal government and the states.