By AFP and Kontur | 2025-10-02

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has warned that Europe was in a "drone arms race" while sounding the alarm about a hostile Russia.

While he spoke in parliament on September 25, the German armed forces launched a three-day exercise dubbed "Red Storm Bravo" in the northern port city of Hamburg meant to simulate NATO troop movements in case of conflict in a Baltic country.

Germany, a strong backer of Ukraine against Russia, has seen a rise in unidentified drone flights over military bases and critical infrastructure in recent months.

Dobrindt, citing hybrid threats and "aggression" from Russia, said Germany was strengthening its "operational capabilities by developing drone defense systems."

"We are engaged in an arms race between the threat posed by drones and the means to counter them," he said, citing recent incidents in Poland, Romania, Denmark and Norway.

Dobrindt said Germany would boost investment and change its aviation safety rules to allow it to better "detect, defend and intercept" unmanned aerial vehicles.

Berlin accuses Russia of carrying out sabotage, espionage, surveillance and destabilization operations.

But German authorities have so far been reluctant to shoot down drones for fear that debris could cause casualties.

'Drone wall' talks

Drone warfare has been a core feature of the Ukraine conflict and NATO countries bordering Russia hope to build a "drone defense wall" -- a network of technological and military solutions to counter these aerial threats.

On September 26, EU countries kicked off their first talks on proposals to build the "wall," after air incursions from Russia rattled eastern members.

Focus has sharpened in recent days on the threat to Europe's airspace as unidentified drones have shut airports in Denmark.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen made a first call for a "drone wall" in a keynote speech earlier this month, hours after NATO shot down Russian drones in Poland.

She said it should be "a European capability developed together, deployed together, and sustained together, that can respond in real time."

"This is not an abstract ambition," von der Leyen said.

European defense commissioner Andrius Kubilius was seeking to put flesh on the hastily-drawn up proposals in the video talks with defense officials from some 10 EU countries.

"The main aim is to get an idea of critical gaps and needs, including finances," an EU diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Those involved are mostly along the EU's eastern border with Russia and Ukraine, although Denmark was added to the list after the drone incidents there.

Ukraine -- which has developed a raft of capabilities to detect and shoot down Russian drone swarms more cheaply -- will also take part.

EU officials concede that for now details remain vague on what the initiative could look like.

The first steps will likely focus on trying to deploy more sensors along the EU's long eastern frontier to detect drone flights, officials said.

It would likely take much longer to develop an integrated system to take down the drones, they said.

The “drone wall” plan is part of Europe's broader push to strengthen defenses against Russia. Kubilius has called it a flagship project for the bloc.

Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Ministry warned the measures would raise "military and political tensions on our continent," according to state news agency RIA Novosti.