Reuters. Germany will grant police the power to shoot down rogue drones like those that have disrupted airports across Europe and that some European leaders have attributed to a hybrid war being waged by Russia.
The new law, agreed by the cabinet on Wednesday (October 8) and awaiting parliamentary approval, explicitly authorises the police to down drones violating Germany's airspace, including shooting them down in cases of acute threat or serious harm.
Other techniques available to down drones include using lasers or jamming signals to sever control and navigation links.
"This gives the federal police the opportunity to use state-of-the-art technology to combat drone threats," German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told journalists in Berlin.
A dedicated counter-drone unit will be created within the federal police, Dobrindt added, and researchers would consult with Israel and Ukraine as they were more advanced in drone technology.
The new law comes after dozens of flights were diverted or cancelled last Friday (October 3) at Munich Airport, Germany's second largest, leaving more than 10,000 passengers stranded, after rogue drone sightings.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said he assumed Russia was behind many of the drones flying over Germany last weekend, but none had been armed and were rather on reconnaissance flights.
With the new law, Germany joins European countries that have recently given security forces powers to down drones violating their airspace, including Britain, France, Lithuania and Romania.
Germany recorded 172 drone-related disruptions to air traffic between January and the end of September 2025, up from 129 in the same period last year and 121 in 2023, according to data from Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS).
