BERLIN — German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced plans on Saturday to overhaul the country’s aviation security law to give the armed forces a formal role in drone defense, including the authority to shoot down hostile aircraft.

Speaking in Berlin, Dobrindt described the spike in recent drone incursions over Germany and neighboring countries as part of a “constant hybrid threat” ranging from small commercial quadcopters to coordinated swarms.

“We are experiencing an arms race — between drone threats and drone defense,” Dobrindt said. “This is a race we cannot afford to lose.”

The legislative move comes amid a flurry of drone intrusions across Denmark and northern Germany that have intensified concerns over security and espionage. In Denmark, multiple airports and military installations have reported drone sightings in recent days. Copenhagen’s main airport was shut for several hours earlier this week after large drones were observed hovering in restricted airspace.

Dobrindt’s proposal has two pillars. First, the minister said he would establish a national drone defense center to pool resources from the federal police, state police, the federal criminal office and the German armed forces, or Bundeswehr. 

The center would bundle budgets, foster research projects and coordinate new technologies for interception — from jamming and takeover systems to “drone-on-drone” countermeasures.

Second, the government will amend Germany’s Aviation Security Act, which dates back to 2005. The new legislation would explicitly permit the Bundeswehr to step in under the framework of military assistance to civilian authorities when police capacity is insufficient.

“That naturally also includes the option of shooting down drones,” Dobrindt stressed.

Germany’s current framework only allows limited police use of signal disruption or net systems, leaving gaps against larger or militarized drones. Expanding military powers in domestic airspace, however, raises legal questions. 

Under Germany’s constitution, the Bundeswehr is barred from routine domestic security tasks, with deployments on home soil permitted only in narrowly defined cases of disaster relief when civil authorities formally request support.

Despite that, the amendments are due to be presented to parliament this autumn, Dobrindt said.