Germany and Denmark report renewed drone sightings • FRANCE 24 English

Germany and Denmark report renewed drone sightings • FRANCE 24 English

Germany’s interior minister said Saturday that it has noticed an increased presence of drones over parts of the country in recent days, describing the threat level as high. The minister said that Berlin will be adopting measures to protect itself in response. Take a listen to him earlier. We note a permanent hybrid threat sabotage. It’s about sabotage and espionage. Everyone could hear in the past few days that there has been an increased use of drones over parts of Germany. Our neighboring countries are also reporting an increase in drones with varying degrees of effectiveness. We’re witnessing an armament race, an arms race between drone threats and drone defense. We must prepare ourselves for this. a race that we must not lose. And that is why we need to upgrade our technology. Well, that announcement from the German interior minister came just hours after Denmark made a similar claim, the Nordic country’s defense ministry, saying that drones were observed at several of its facilities overnight on Friday following a series of sightings across the country earlier this week. For more on this, France 24’s international affairs editor, Philip Tur, joins me uh now on set. Hi Phillip. Uh so as for the Danish case then goes still no news on who might be responsible. No uh no response uh from anybody to say they were responsible either for the attacks in Germany which took place in the Schlice Holstein um state which is pretty close to the border with Denmark or also in Denmark where we’ve seen fresh attacks overnight in uh several areas uh notably at the uh Skrid Scrub air base and the Jutland Dragoon regiment and also more importantly this hasn’t been confirmed by the Danish authorities but by local media that there was uh a sighting of drones at the Carob air base which is situated in the center of the country. This is the main air base uh in uh Denmark, the ma biggest military air base. Uh and that’s why the the authorities are being a bit tight lipped about it. But the reports from local authorities say that there were drones both inside and outside of that air base. But still no claim of responsibility from anybody for these drone attacks. That hasn’t stopped the authorities in both Germany, as we’ve just been hearing, and also in Denmark from pointing the finger indirectly at the Russians. The prime minister of Denmark, Metive Frederickson, uh said Denmark have been a victim of hybrid attacks, which he said could then multiply. But she said the one main country that poses a threat to Europe security is of course Russia. And Denmark’s justice minister has said the aim of these incursions was basically to spread fear to create division and to frighten uh people uh as to the safety of taking airplanes and moving around the country. So I think the main aim here of whoever is responsible for this is to uh to see just how far they can go, what the retaliation would be and also probably to try to recuperate some kind of information. Now the the the finger is being pointed fairly as squarely at Russia Eron because there are 67 Russian ships based in the Baltic Sea. That’s just across uh the water from Scandinavia, notably Denmark and Sweden. Uh they have access to uh Keningrad, which is Russian territory uh just next to the Baltic states. So it is pretty easy for them to have those drones on board to file them off and then for them to come back. There were even reports this week that some of the ships were changing identity. So they were not seen as being Russian ships but from a European country. So there is a big investigation going on as to who could be responsible for all of this uh and how long this is going to last for. But I think what is safe to say is that these drone attacks over the last few days have opened up the possibility or the fear uh that Europe is very vulnerable that this wasn’t seen as something that was going to happen or could have happened but not on such a strong level. And I think this has been a wakeup call because there are many in Europe saying, “Well, we’ve got a series of drone attacks taking place uh in Denmark and in Northern Germany. We’ve seen these other attacks against other uh countries in in Europe uh with uh not necessarily attacks, but flyovers of missiles and planes into NATO airspace which obviously have come from Russia. So, it’s time now for something to be done. And one other element is that uh really I think there is a a fear that if something’s done isn’t done quickly then then this could all spiral out of control. Now the the Danish prime minister at least earlier this week did indeed use the language of attacks hybrid attacks uh though it is worth specifying that for now uh these these are more sightings uh than attacks. Now Philip, nonetheless the EU has called for the building of an anti- drone uh wall. What exactly would this entail? Well, this is not a wall built out of concrete or bricks and mortar. This is a wall to try to protect Europe against these drone incursions. Uh they are pretty dependent, I think, or they’re going to be pretty dependent on Ukraine for helping them do this because Ukraine has developed anti- drone measures to fight against Russian drones. Uh I think three key objectives here. The first one is the construction of anti- drone bases with the help of Ukraine situated along uh Europe’s eastern flank, which you can see in in the picture here. uh the drone detectors also then deployed amongst along that border to stop or detect drones trying to penetrate into European airspace and then the deployment of interceptor drones from the European side to shoot down the drones coming in because that is a lot cheaper than using missiles or airplanes which are much more costly when it comes to shooting down drones. The problem is that the drones for the moment they can get through detection of radar uh and they’re quite high hard to identify and also can cause damage if they are shot down. That’s why the the the Danish authorities so far say they haven’t shot down any drones because they don’t want them to cause damage or hit an airplane and all the drones have gone back to where they came from and they haven’t been identified. So I think this is an ongoing situation but the finger is pretty much being pointed at Russia right now. Philip Terrell, thank you very much.

The Danish defense ministry said Saturday that “drones have been observed at several of Danish defense facilities” overnight Friday into Saturday. The renewed drone sightings come after there were several drone sightings in the Nordic country earlier this week, with some of them temporarily shutting down Danish airports. Analysis by FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Philip Turle.
#Denmark #drones #Europe

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