Suspicious Drones Spotted Over Patriot System Maintenance Base in Germany

Six drone flyovers were detected over a Bundeswehr base where maintenance and repairs of Patriot air defense systems are carried out.

This was reported by Tagesschau.

The base near Mechernich also houses a logistics depot with enhanced security measures in a well-protected underground facility 130 meters below ground.

Equipment and spare parts for the armed forces’ military hardware are stored in a 30,000-square-meter facility. This is one of the key elements of the Bundeswehr’s logistics network.

According to the publication, drone flights over the facility have caused extreme concern among security authorities. On Thursday night, security company employees reportedly recorded a total of six drone flyovers between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. During the last sighting, officers from the Euskirchen District Police Department—who had been alerted in advance—were reportedly on site. They also witnessed at least one drone flyover.

One of the drones reportedly even circled above the emergency responders for some time. According to the report, Bundeswehr military police also observed the incident from a distance of approximately 40 meters. A preliminary assessment included in the document indicates that it may have been a Fly-380 VTOL drone. In total, two drones were spotted.

Such drones have a wingspan of about 3.8 meters and a flight range of up to 400 kilometers. They can reach speeds of up to 150 km/h and carry a payload weighing more than ten kilograms.

Drones of this type are used, among other things, for surveying, mapping, border surveillance, and transporting in hard-to-reach regions. The investigation by the Criminal Police and federal security agencies has so far found no evidence that this was a surveying drone that had strayed off course.

Throughout 2025, Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office recorded over a thousand suspicious drone flights over military facilities, airports, defense plants, and other critical infrastructure sites.

In particular, in December 2025, the German military reported an incident involving three unidentified drones that were attempting to locate Arrow 3 missile defense systems.

According to the Bundeswehr, the drones were spotted at an altitude of about 100 meters above the Annaburg air base in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. A rapid-response team deployed its own combat drone, which was able to identify one of the drones but failed to destroy it.

To counter such drones, Germany established an anti-drone unit within the Federal Police and a joint anti-drone center for the exchange of expertise between the police and the military at the end of 2025.