German Luftwaffe dispatches drone-defense experts to help Belgium

BERLIN — The German military has sent specialists to Belgium to help authorities there combat drones following sightings near crucial military facilities , including those housing nuclear weapons.

The Bundeswehr announced the move in a press release late Thursday. According to the military, first units of the Luftwaffe – Germany’s air force – have already arrived in Belgium, where they are investigating the situation on the ground and coordinating with the Belgian armed forces. Further German forces would “soon follow,” the military said.

Belgium had requested assistance from Germany following a “significant increase” in sightings of unidentified unmanned aerial vehicles, including in the vicinity of Belgian military facilities, according to the German government.

Germany was the only country capable of helping “immediately and comprehensively” with the neighboring country’s “considerable drone problem,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told Defense News on Friday.

The first of several drone sightings over Belgium occurred on Oct. 31 at the Kleine-Brogel military air base, followed by sightings near civilian airports that have disrupted air travel in the following days.

Kleine-Brogel hosts sensitive military assets, including U.S. nuclear weapons. Other air bases that have experienced drone sightings in early November also includes the airbase that Belgium’s freshly-delivered F-35 fighter jets are currently located at.

Belgian authorities have said they had “little doubt” that a state actor is behind the incursions, with Russia being named as a suspect in intelligence circles, Belgian media reported .

In its statement, the German government described the troops it was sending to Belgium as “specialized forces of the air force for the detection of and defense from small unmanned aerial vehicles.”

The defense ministry in Berlin described the mission as being of “limited duration,” though it did not specify how long it was planned to continue. The Bundeswehr’s press office declined to provide additional details about either the duration of the mission or the units involved.

The German defense ministry emphasized the speed of the deployment, saying that it proved the close cooperation within NATO and European solidarity in “dealing with hybrid threats.”

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

柏林——德国军方已向比利时派遣专家，帮助当地政府打击无人机。此前，有无人机出现在包括核武器存放地在内的重要军事设施附近。

德国联邦国防军周四晚间发布新闻稿宣布了这一行动。军方称，德国空军（Luftwaffe）的首批部队已抵达比利时，正在实地调查局势并与比利时武装部队协调行动。军方表示，更多德国部队将“很快”跟进。

据德国政府称，比利时在目击不明无人机的事件“显著增加”后，向德国请求援助，其中包括在比利时军事设施附近发生的事件。

德国国防部长鲍里斯·皮斯托里乌斯周五告诉《防务新闻》，德国是唯一能够“立即全面地”帮助邻国解决其“严重无人机问题”的国家。

10 月 31 日，比利时克莱因-布罗格尔军用空军基地首次发现无人机，随后几天，民用机场附近也出现了无人机，扰乱了航空旅行。

克莱恩-布罗赫尔空军基地驻扎着包括美国核武器在内的敏感军事资产。11月初曾出现无人机踪迹的其他空军基地还包括比利时新近接收的F-35战斗机目前所在的空军基地。

据比利时媒体报道，比利时当局表示，他们“几乎毫不怀疑”入侵事件背后有国家行为体，情报界已将俄罗斯列为嫌疑对象。

德国政府在声明中将派往比利时的部队描述为“空军专门负责探测和防御小型无人机的部队”。

柏林国防部称此次任务“持续时间有限”，但并未具体说明计划持续多久。德国联邦国防军新闻办公室拒绝提供有关任务持续时间或参与部队的更多细节。

德国国防部强调了部署速度，称这证明了北约内部的密切合作以及欧洲在“应对混合威胁”方面的团结。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。