Overview

• The Bavarian cabinet approved a draft to amend the Polizeiaufgabengesetz so police can verify hostile drones and neutralize them by electronic takeover, jamming or nets, with pursuit and possible shoot‑down authorized only as a last resort.
• Officials also moved to lift a ban on arming police drones and to build a new drone competence and defense center in Erding to concentrate development and operations near Munich Airport.
• The draft now goes to the Landtag, where Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann says it could pass this year, while statewide units in the Bereitschaftspolizei would need training and new equipment before the system is fully operational.
• Berlin plans to strengthen its own defenses, considering purchases such as short‑range radars, detection devices, interceptor and reconnaissance drones, and kinetic counter-systems, and it backs a federal drone-defense center with tightly limited Bundeswehr assistance.
• Recent nighttime sightings near Munich Airport halted flights and stranded thousands, attribution remains unknown, and while leaders floated possible Russian involvement the Kremlin has rejected the claim as experts underline the technical difficulty and collateral risks of any shoot‑down.