Germany wakes up to threat of drones

Germany has decided that drones entering the country’s airspace raises the stakes of security, and there is need for high level military response. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said, “There is a threat that can be classified as high when it comes to drones. It is an abstract threat, but very concrete in individual cases.”

Ever since drone sightings in Denmark, the Europeans have sat up to the new threat. Drones have been in use in the Russia-Ukraine war. Both sides are using drones to attack targets on the other side. In the early stages of the war, it was Russia that was using Iran-made drones.

Many countries in the West wanted sanctions against Iran. But Iran countered it saying that the drones sold to Russia were done long before Russia had invaded Ukraine in February 2022. There is not much information how Ukraine is using drones and who the suppliers are. What is certain is that drones have become regular weapons of attack.

In the recent clash between India and Pakistan, Pakistan had used Turkey-made drones, and the Indian security forces had in place a radar system that jammed the drone attack.

Surprisingly, drones have taken their place in the arsenal of the armies of many countries. This was quite unthinkable a few years ago. There was exploration of drones for mainly civilian purposes, especially transport in the army. There was also the civilian use of drones for agricultural operations like spraying pesticides. The other use of drones was for photographing crowds and cityscapes from a height instead of the photographer hunting for a perch in a high-rise building. The transformation of drone as a military weapon has been quite swift. Many experts feel that there is nothing surprising about this development because drones are nothing but a miniature version of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which were used in the early days of the Cold War.

This is partially true. The emergence of drones in the last few years has had s different purpose. That its military potential was recognized quite quickly and it has been inducted into the warfare is quite unexpected.

Instead of firing missiles, which can be intercepted by anti-missile missiles, or downed by surface-to-air missiles (SAMs), the drones can be launched without fanfare, and they can escape detection if they are launched in small numbers. Pakistan had launched a swarm of drones against India in the four-day clash in July, which was easy to detect. What had happened in Denmark – the sighting of a drone or two – makes a country vulnerable on many counts. The German officials felt that the military response to drones is required to protect people gathered in large numbers.

It’s quite likely that international organisations will press for protocols and agreements about the use of drones, especially if they target people, nuclear plants and other energy infrastructure including dams. The reason that many countries at war are drawn towards using drones seems to be its low cost. Compared to missiles, the drones are cheaper to make and to deploy. There is even talk that the future wars could be drone wars.

The German apprehension about drones is based on the compact geography of Europe compared to other continents and geographies. The distances that need to be covered to cross borders is smaller, and drones lend themselves to short-distance targets.

The last big war in Europe was the Second World War, and it was fought with tanks, fighter planes and bombers. Drones are threatening to make tanks and planes irrelevant. And this poses a problem for European countries.