Germany to build nationwide AI drone defense platform with Hensoldt and Deutsche Telekom

The plan

Germany’s air traffic control organisation, DFS, announced on 12 June a partnership with Hensoldt and Deutsche Telekom to deploy a nationwide drone detection and defence network. The “Aktionsplan Drohnen Deutschland” was presented at the ILA Berlin Air Show and envisages a platform that links mobile network mast data with stationary sensor and countermeasure installations at airports, power plants and Bundeswehr sites.

“Drones pose an increasing danger to Germany’s critical infrastructure. To protect it, we must pool available resources.”

The joint platform is intended to overcome the current fragmentation, where responsibility for drone incidents is split between federal and state authorities.

Technology and integration

The core is a platform driven by artificial intelligence. Deploying sensors on Deutsche Telekom’s mobile towers, combined with dedicated detection and jamming equipment at protected sites, will generate a real-time air situation picture. Automated data fusion will allow identification of potentially hostile unmanned systems.

“The technological capabilities for drone defense are available from German manufacturers. But to be able to act in the event of a threat, an architecture is needed that coordinates the various systems for detection, classification and countering of drones.”

The consortium stresses that the architecture is open, designed to integrate systems from other manufacturers.

Hybrid warfare warning

DFS chief Arndt Schoenemann described the recent spate of targeted drone incursions at airports as “the beginning of a hybrid warfare". He argued that effective countermeasures are still being frustrated by conflicting responsibilities on federal and state levels.

“Instead of a patchwork of facilities and responsibilities, we need a centrally managed drone detection and defense where all information comes together.”

Past incidents

Drones have repeatedly disrupted German airports since autumn 2025. Munich Airport had to suspend operations several times, most recently in late May, when dozens of flights were diverted. Currently, Bavarian airports rely largely on chance sightings and visual reports from cockpit crews, lacking permanently installed protection systems.