Saxony Interior Minister Armin Schuster is pressing for stronger drone defences after an explosives-fitted drone was discovered at Leipzig/Halle airport, raising the prospect of expanding the Bundespolizei’s role in airport and infrastructure protection. The incident has sharpened the debate over who should carry operational responsibility for counter-drone measures at German airports and across critical infrastructure.
Schuster wants the federal police reinforced for more robust drone-defence operations and is also backing a model in which the Bundespolizei receives a paramilitary component. As an alternative, he is urging greater federal funding for the states so they can build standardised drone-defence systems. The discussion comes as Germany already has a joint drone-defence centre and a Bundespolizei drone-defence unit.
Leipzig/Halle, a key cargo and air-traffic hub, briefly suspended operations after the drone was found, underlining gaps that remain despite recent legal changes expanding federal powers in drone defence. Public reporting indicates the Bundespolizei is already responsible for drone defence at airports, but some locations still lack the detection and response technology needed to deal with fast-moving threats.