Germany opens new drone security technology centre in Saxony‑Anhalt
Centre near Kochstedt and DLR Braunschweig will test detection and neutralisation systems; federal officials pledge up to €10m and about 40 jobs.
18 August 2026 — Germany inaugurated a new technological centre dedicated to drone safety in the Salzland district of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, officials said, describing it as a hub for detecting and neutralising unmanned aerial systems.
The facility, located on grounds linked to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), will develop and test technologies intended to enable safe drone operations as well as systems to spot and disable hostile or rogue drones. Authorities plan to invest up to 10 million euros in the centre over the coming years, and expect the project to create up to 40 new jobs.
The programme will operate from two sites: a testing and development location in Kochstedt and DLR’s facility in Braunschweig. Officials said the split setup will allow experimental trials in a controlled rural environment and integration work at the DLR campus.
Security context and government strategy
At the opening, Germany’s Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) warned that the country faces daily hybrid threats and stressed the country’s central role in European economic, political and security stability. He said: "Whoever targets Germany, in fact targets the whole of Europe."
Dobrindt also cautioned that a technological race is underway between counter-drone systems and methods designed to evade them, and described Kochstedt as a "central pillar of the security architecture" in addressing drone-related hybrid threats. The new centre is one pillar of a broader federal strategy that also foresees a mobile counter-drone unit within the Federal Police and a joint counter-drone centre established by federal and state authorities.
The urgency of the issue was underscored by a recent incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport, where a disguised drone equipped with explosives was found among several Ukrainian cargo aircraft. The federal prosecutor characterised that case as "a serious attack on Germany's transport and logistics infrastructure."
Photo: press material from the event
