Three unidentified drones flew over an site Arrow 3 missile site in Germany last month, with German forces being unable to intercept them, German media reported on Wednesday.
The suspected espionage incident occurred on Dec. 1, only three days before the Arrow 3 was deployed at the Bundeswehr base in Annaburg, south of Berlin, according to a Bundeswehr report obtained by the WDR and NDR broadcasters.
The drones circled at an altitude of approximately 100 yards above the radar component of the Arrow 3, according to the report. Germany is the only country outside of Israel and the United States to possess the Israeli-made Arrow 3 defense system, which destroys incoming missiles at high altitudes, often outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
The system is expected to become fully operational in Germany by 2030, with two additional sites in Schleswig-Holstein in the country’s north and in Bavaria in the south.
“The Army’s Rapid Reaction Element (SRE) was immediately activated” when the drones were detected, the Bundeswehr document states, according to the German media reports. “The SRE’s mobile task force deployed its own reconnaissance drone [...] and was able to visually spot one of the drones.”
However, attempts to shoot down the drone, including using a special targeting device, were unsuccessful, the report states, according to the broadcasters.
“Intentional reconnaissance is likely” to be the reason for the flyover, according to the reports.
This was the second suspicious drone overflight of the radar facility in Annaburg, according to the broadcasters, who quoted from the report. The report does not specify who might be behind the espionage.
