Germany’s Interior Minister, Aelxander Dobrindt, has opened a drone security research centre at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) in Cochstedt near Magdeburg today (18 August). Technologies for the safe use, detection and defence of drones will be researched, tested and developed under realistic conditions. The Technology Centre for Drone Security will also operate from the DLR site at Braunschweig.
The facilities bring together research, security authorities and industry, and aims to accelerate the application of new technologies. Among other objectives, researchers will help determine Germany’s requirements to protect people and infrastructure from rogue drones, including those with AI-capabilities that can evade jammers.
The launch follows an incident at Leipzig/Halle on August 4, when a drone carrying explosives was found at the airport near a Ukrainian cargo plane.
DLR said that the new technology centre will expand in the coming years through the creation of additional infrastructure and testing environments, as well as the recruitment of additional staff. DLR will invest more than EUR 10 million in this expansion and create up to 40 new positions.
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Image: DLR
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