Detection, Defense, and Operation of UAS
Since the discovery of a drone equipped with explosives at Leipzig/Halle Airport, there has been ongoing discussion about how Germany can better protect itself from the illegal use of UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) in the future. It is clear that current security concepts are insufficient. To be better prepared technically, a newly established „Technology Center for Drone Security“ has been inaugurated at the National Testing Center for Unmanned Aerial Systems at Magdeburg-Cochstedt Airport.
What appears to be a quick and decisive response to the recent reassessment of the threat situation, however, is not a short-term reaction to the drone incident in Leipzig/Halle. The „Technology Center for Drone Security“, inaugurated in the presence of Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, Dorothee Bär (Federal Minister for Research, Technology, and Space), and Sven Schulze, Minister-President of the State of Saxony-Anhalt, is part of the intensified activities of the federal and state governments to detect and defend against illegally operated UAS, which have been ongoing since the end of last year. At the Interior Minister’s Conference on December 4, 2025, attendees discussed a coordinated, nationwide strategy to counter hybrid threats. The jointly established Drone Defense Center (GDAZ) at the Federal Police in Berlin was the first result and is now followed by the competence center in Cochstedt.
Consolidated Expertise
„With the Technology Center for Drone Security at the German Aerospace Center, we research, develop, and test state-of-the-art drone defense technology under real conditions“, explains Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU). „Here we research and test new technologies in Cochstedt, right at an airport infrastructure — exactly where a sensitive threat situation exists. We consolidate the expertise of science, startups, and our security authorities to better protect our country against hybrid threat situations.”
While the airport facility in Cochstedt offers opportunities for practical testing of new technologies, a „drone cage“ is available at the DLR location in Braunschweig
While recent events have sparked a public debate primarily focused on detection and counter-UAS solutions against illegally operated systems, the topic of „drone security“ is being interpreted more holistically at the DLR facilities in Braunschweig and Magdeburg-Cochstedt. Given the increasing use of drones, it is also crucial to design legal UAS operations to be as safe and resilient as possible through technology. Therefore, among the official tasks of the prominently opened facility is to bring together „scientific excellence, technological innovation, and the practical requirements of security authorities“ and to make „an important contribution to the safe and resilient use of unmanned systems“, as stated by the DLR prior to the opening.
Addressing Concrete Problems
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„Drones not only offer enormous opportunities, but they also present challenges. This is where the Technology Center for Drone Security at the DLR locations in Cochstedt and Braunschweig is expected to take action“, explains Prof. Dr.-Ing. Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, Chairwoman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center. „Through transfer and knowledge exchange, new approaches from research can be quickly and purposefully converted into usable solutions. We do not develop technology for its own sake — we solve concrete problems and address a specific need.”
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