Lower Saxony leaders declared the state "largely defenceless" against drone threats and demanded federal protection for Hannover airport, after a drone sighting briefly halted flights there earlier this week, delaying six passenger flights and diverting a cargo plane.
The state offered up to 4.88 million euros to co-fund Hannover's defences, joining a special conference of interior ministers convened after the Leipzig/Halle bomb-drone incident. Hamburg's Andy Grote said the foiled plot represented a "new dimension" of hybrid attacks.
Germany has documented more than 1,000 suspicious drone flights in 2025. A March legal change for the first time authorised the military to shoot down drones beyond military sites, and portable counter-drone systems are planned for eight major airports by year-end. Yet a critical-infrastructure working group warned that no drone has so far been intercepted by existing defences.