NATO air base in Germany boosts security amid espionage concerns

"NATO's Airborne Early Warning and Control Force raised the security level at the Geilenkirchen air base to Charlie. This is based on intelligence indicating a potential threat. All non-essential mission personnel have been sent home as a precautionary measure. The safety of our personnel is the highest priority. Critical operations at the air base continue as planned," reads the statement sent to us by base spokesperson Christian Brett. What does this mean?

NATO's Charlie alert level means that an incident has occurred or intelligence indicates that a terrorist action against NATO organizations or personnel is highly probable. According to German media, such a situation in North Rhine-Westphalia "has not happened in years."

The situation, however, did not affect the base's operations, as confirmed in a conversation with the Tagesschau portal by Brett himself. "There is no cause for concern, and this is purely a precautionary measure to ensure the continuation of our key operations," he stated. "The AWACS early warning planes that operate from the base are still taking off and landing," he added.

The situation at the base also does not affect other bases in the country. A few hours later, NATO reported that the status had reverted from Charlie to the previously operative Bravo+.

In a conversation with us, Brett confirmed that "no new findings have emerged since last evening." We also asked whether Charlie was related to another alarming signal—this time from northern Germany, specifically Brunsbüttel, where the prosecutor's office has just launched an investigation into "espionage activities for sabotage purposes." Drones were observed in the sky over the ChemCoast Park facilities. According to unconfirmed reports from German media, these were Russian Orlan-10 drones.

"We are not aware of any connections to other incidents," Brett assured us in a conversation.

"The Flensburg prosecutor's office confirms the initiation of preparatory proceedings on suspicion of espionage activities for sabotage purposes in connection with repeated drone flights over critical infrastructure in Schleswig-Holstein," reads a statement provided to Wirtualna Polska.

The Itzehoe police shed some light on this matter, stating that drones were observed on August 8. The unmanned aerial vehicles were spotted over the Brunsbüttel industrial park, and they were also seen over the new LNG terminal and the decommissioned Brunsbüttel nuclear power plant. "In the latter case, the no-fly zone was violated multiple times," reports Tagesschau. The machines also appeared in the sky on August 16.

We contacted the German Federal Ministry of the Interior. However, it remains tight-lipped, referring us to the national police of Schleswig-Holstein. The state police, however, do not want to comment on the matter and direct us to the prosecutor's office in Flensburg. Aside from sending a statement, the prosecutor emphasized that "no further details will be provided at this time." "We ask for understanding in this regard," added prosecutor Bernd Winterfeldt when we sought more information.

However, federal authorities are known to be involved in the investigation. According to German law, they are responsible for protecting critical infrastructure, which is undoubtedly the case here. According to the German public television service ARD, the Bundeswehr is also involved in providing the police with radar data. The Bundeswehr Territorial Command spokesperson in Berlin stated that cooperation in the investigation has been ongoing since Monday.

The weekly "Der Spiegel" reports that the police tried to intercept the unidentified drones. However, they appeared to be too fast, moving at speeds exceeding 95 kilometres per hour. Authorities also determined that these were not models commonly available on the market, which—in their opinion—suggests that they may have military origins.

German media are wondering where the machines could have come from, flying over the northern part of the country. One hypothesis suggests that the machines must have had a range of over 600 kilometres and were launched from civilian ships off the coast.

If the machines took off from Kaliningrad, however, the range would need to be even greater. The distance between the Russian exclave and the location where the drones were seen is about 700 kilometres. But how exactly it happened remains unknown, and authorities are working to clarify the matter.