After the incident in London: How safe are German airports against drones attacks?

The closure of London’s Gatwick airport due to flying drones of unknown origin, has led to a security debate in Germany. This shows how bad the local airports are just prepared to deliberate, and targeted drone attacks. The Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) announced on Thursday the number of 152 disabilities by drones this year (end of November), which are dangerous have been closely watched at airports or on the flight line. In the previous record year of 2017, there were only 88 cases. “Drone flights at the airport are generally prohibited. Violations of the legally established no-fly zones must be pursued vigorously,“ said the chief Executive of the Association of airports (ADV), Ralph Beisel. The airport operator had to rely on quick and effective defense measures by the police authorities.

Michael Ashelm

editor in the economy.

F. A. Z.

Marcus Theurer

economic correspondent based in London.

F. A. Z.

What is the ADV does not mention, is that every commercial airport in Germany, self-active, and their own drones could deploy defensive systems for the reconnaissance of his area. This does not happen so far however. Experts criticize these shortcomings. “Drones defense systems for German airports are a Must. It is not clear why such neuralgic points are not protected so far. The dangers are evident,“ said Joerg Lamprecht, the F. A. Z. He is the Chef and co-founder of the German-American High-Tech provider Dedrone, the market leader for air space security and drones-defense systems, produced in Kassel. For Andreas house otter from a specialist provider ESC Aerospace from Bavaria, the potential Threat of drones, because of the technical possibilities is “enormous”. Many of those responsible is lacking, but awareness, because the probability of occurrence of such scenarios is currently being assessed as low.

violations are liable to prosecution

The responsibility is moved from the competent Authorities, meanwhile, back and forth. The airport operators see the safety authorities or the air traffic control duty. On request, the Federal police said that this issue was beyond its jurisdiction. The Federal Ministry of the interior replied. Each of the outdoor areas of the airports, to the competent police services of the länder were still in question, but also because there is no unanimous opinion on the responsibility. Therefore, the airports in Germany in terms of the drones is a risk to remain unprotected.