Germany ups counter-drone response to suspected Russian spying on Ukraine tank training

Japan has just announced it will be providing $37 million in aid for strengthening Ukraine’s counter-drone detection assets – tech financing Kyiv may now be considering redirecting to one of its biggest backers, Germany, to help it halt suspected spying of their joint activities.

Recurring alarms of aerial espionage over German military bases by presumed Russian UAVs have again been sounded by officials in Berlin. The alleged spying has taken place around a facility used to train forces from Ukraine on Leopard 1 tanks. Astonishingly, Germany’s army, security services, and defense agencies have thus far been unable to track down pilots – much less halt the invasive UAV flights – despite having deployed sophisticated counter-drone tech to do so.

The daily paper Bild published an article Sunday quoting German officials voicing concern about the repeated presence of small UAVs over Klietz military training zone, where Ukraine soldiers are taught to operate the Leopard 1 tanks. Alerts of the sightings were first sent up the hierarchical ladder by a territorial official in October 2022. But after that commander was promoted elsewhere, those efforts to deploy jamming and other counter-drone tech have been halting, and singularly ineffective.

Indeed, nearly a year and a half after those first incursions were reported, Defense Minister Nils Hilmer last week told members of Germany’s parliament that counter-drone efforts have thus far “not been able to (intercept) any drones or their pilots.”

A zero-for-countless score that’s disconcerting, to say the least.

And it’s especially worrying in the wake of Germany having formed a special Drone Task Force in November. Nearly two months on, that unit, too, is not known to have to located or seized any invading craft or snooping pilots – in spite of the abundant, easily procuable military-grade and professional counter-drone tech solutions at its disposal.

Free Democratic Party legislator and member of parliament’s defense committee, Marcus Faber, told Bild Sunday the regular visits of UAVs suspected of spying on tank training for Russia continue unabated, with counter-drone measures thus far not reeling anybody behind them in. 

“Drones are regularly spotted over the Klietz military training area, where the Bundeswehr trains Ukrainians on the Leo 1 (tank),” Faber was quoted saying. “At other locations, several drones sometimes enter the airspace at the same time. This is clearly organized and strongly points to Russia. So many drones have been spotted that it would be dangerous if even a small percentage of them were involved in spy flights.”

That sounds kind of troubling. It also makes one wonder why Ukraine troops who’ve been successful in shooting down countless Russian reconnaissance and loitering munition craft on their territory haven’t been brought to Germany to blast a few snooping UAVs out of the sky. It also raises the question of whether Kyiv might feel compelled to strip off some of the $37 million in counter-drone aid from Japan to help Germany buy more effective command and control tech.

Image: Fikri Rasyid/Unsplash