Unknown drone flights took place in early December over the US Ramstein Air Base.
This was confirmed on Friday by a spokesperson for the American army and German security circles. According to these sources, unknown drones were spotted above the vast terrain near Kaiserslautern on the evening of December 3-4. The drone pilots could not be located, “but they were not amateur pilots,” security circles said. Previously, the magazine “Der Spiegel” reported on these incidents.
At the beginning of December, drones were spotted near and above the base, without there being any disturbance on site, said a spokesperson for the American Air Force. “In cooperation with the authorities of the host country, we continue to monitor the airspace to ensure the safety of the population.” The number of drones has fluctuated and their size and configuration have varied. The public is also asked to inform the German police or the American armed forces in the event of suspicious sightings. The Air Force did not say whether security measures had been increased at the base.
In recent months, several drone flights have taken place over strategic installations in Germany. This summer, drones of unknown origin were reported above an LNG terminal in Brunsbüttel, Schleswig-Holstein. The Flensburg public prosecutor’s office then opened an investigation into suspicions of “agent activity for sabotage purposes”. There are suspicions, but no known evidence, that Russia or China may be behind this.
The “Spiegel” reported that drones had also been observed in recent weeks above installations of the arms group Rheinmetall and the chemical giant BASF. The federal government and the states have not yet managed to agree on a uniform approach to combating drones. It is the police of the Länder who are competent in this area, but they often lack the necessary equipment.
(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Rachel More, editing by Thomas Seythal)
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