How Much the Drone Threat at German Airports Has Really Increased
The Figures at a Glance
The figures show how much the threat situation has intensified: According to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which opened its own technology center for drone security in August 2026, 116 relevant drone-related disruptions were registered at 25 German airports in 2025. The German air navigation service provider DFS counted as many as 227 drone-related airspace disruptions nationwide. In the first half of 2026 alone, another 166 incidents had already been added.
In response, the Conference of Interior Ministers decided to equip eight major German commercial airports with stationary drone detection and defense systems. At the same time, the Federal Police is building its own counter-drone unit, supported by a newly opened counter-drone center.
Who May Intervene in an Emergency and Where the Gap Lies
One central legal question remains unresolved: Who may order the shooting down of a drone over an airport in an emergency and under what conditions? Active countermeasures such as RF jamming, GPS spoofing or physical neutralization have so far been reserved exclusively for the police, the Bundeswehr and intelligence services. Private airport operators can detect drones and trigger alarms, but they cannot actively intervene themselves. This protection gap is now to be closed through the reform of the Federal Police Act and the Aviation Security Act.
XPONENTIAL Europe:
Meeting Point for the Security Industry and Policymakers
How closely perimeter protection, the security industry, counter-drone measures and U-space are now connected became clear at XPONENTIAL Europe 2026, the European flagship trade fair for autonomous technologies and robotics in Düsseldorf. The trade fair also hosts the European Drone Forum, Europe’s leading specialist conference for uncrewed aviation.
Political Tailwind for the U-space Law
As patron of the trade fair, then Federal Minister of Transport Patrick Schnieder announced in March 2026 that he would move forward quickly with the law introducing U-space, with the goal of making Germany the first EU Member State to have its own U-space law. On this basis, airspaces are to be defined in the future in which crewed and uncrewed aviation can take place side by side in a coordinated manner. Schnieder emphasized that automated systems for airspace surveillance and stable communication systems are prerequisites for digitally controlled aircraft, meaning that security must be considered from the outset.
His successor Steffen Bilger is pursuing the same course and announced that the equipping of airports with detection and defense technology would be accelerated. The U-space law announced at XPONENTIAL Europe is now under his responsibility and, as the Leipzig/Halle incident has shown, meets a security debate that has become noticeably more acute since the spring.
Voice from the Trade Fair: Malte Seifert in His Own Words
Malte Seifert, Director of XPONENTIAL Europe, sums up the role of the trade fair as an important driver of development as follows: “Anyone who wants to understand developments in Europe from a technological, regulatory and security-policy perspective will find at XPONENTIAL Europe the companies, authorities, regulators, research institutions, armed forces and users discussing these questions. This is where the dialogue takes place and this is where solutions are presented and discussed.”
More on this Topic: Interview with BDL President Lars Redeligx on the topic of perimeter protection
