Overview
- German outlets WELT and BILD, working with the Axel Springer Academy, analyzed internal BKA data covering roughly 2,000 overflights this year.
- The investigation reports correlations between many incidents and the routes of three cargo ships operating in the North and Baltic Seas.
- The ships named in the reporting are the Russian freighter Lauga and the vessels HAV Snapper and HAV Dolphin.
- European intelligence services are cited by BILD as assessing the ships were likely operating on Russia’s behalf, though formal attribution remains unconfirmed.
- BKA reports note frequent evening sightings, repeat overflights and swarms, and hotspots near military facilities in Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein, as federal authorities continue their inquiries.