Investigations underway

Automatically stored draft

This is what the Russian drone "Orlan 10" looks like.

(Bild: twitter.com/armyinformcomua)

The German authorities are investigating repeated drone flights over critical infrastructure in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. A spokesperson for the public prosecutor's office in Flensburg announced that an investigation had been initiated on suspicion of "agent activity for sabotage purposes".

According to media reports, the drone flights have been taking place over the ChemCoast Park in Brunsbüttel since the beginning of August. The authorities did not provide any information on the origin and destination of the drones. According to the magazine "Spiegel", up to four drones have appeared over the industrial site in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein on several nights since August 8. As "Spiegel" went on to write, however, the domestic police drones used cannot keep up with the suspicious high-tech devices, which fly over long distances and travel at speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour. A special device therefore failed in its attempt to locate the drones.

Russian "Orlan-10s"
 The "Bild" newspaper reported, citing an internal report by the State Criminal Police Office, that the no-fly zone near the decommissioned Brunsbüttel nuclear power plant had been violated several times this month. The investigators suspected that one of the drones was a Russian "Orlan-10s". This had a range of 500 to 600 kilometers and a top speed of over 100 kilometers per hour.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense told the German Press Agency in Berlin that the Air Operations Center was in close contact with the state authorities in the case. The Bundeswehr is providing the police with radar data in order to complete the picture of the situation. This is part of the ongoing task of airspace security. A spokesperson for the Territorial Command of the German Armed Forces in Berlin added that this administrative assistance has been provided since last Monday.

The German Ministry of the Interior did not wish to comment. "The underlying facts are the sole responsibility of the Schleswig-Holstein state police," said a spokeswoman for the ministry. The federal police and the Federal Criminal Police Office are providing support.