The NATO air base in Geilenkirchen, Germany, elevated its security level following intelligence suggesting a potential threat, the base announced on 22 August.
The base reported on X that “all non-mission essential staff have been sent home as a precautionary measure. The safety of our staff is our top priority. Operations continue as planned.”
A spokesperson for the Geilenkirchen base confirmed that the threat level had been raised to Charlie, the second-highest of four alert states. This level is defined as when “an incident has occurred or intelligence has been received indicating that some form of terrorist action against NATO organisations or personnel is highly likely”.
This marks the second time in recent days that the base, which houses NATO’s fleet of AWACS surveillance planes, increased its security measures.
Last week, a military base in nearby Cologne was temporarily sealed off due to suspected water supply sabotage, prompting Geilenkirchen to take precautions.
The Geilenkirchen base also reported an attempted trespassing incident last week, which led to a full sweep of the premises. Regarding the Cologne incident, the German military later announced that test results showed no tap water contamination.
These events occur against a backdrop of NATO warnings about a campaign of hostile activities allegedly staged by Russia, including sabotage and cyberattacks. Russia, in turn, frequently accused NATO of threatening its security.
According to Bild, drones were spotted since at least 8 August flying at high speeds over an area that includes the shut-down nuclear plant, a liquefied natural gas terminal, and chemical factories.
One drone, traveling over 100 kilometers per hour, was observed late on 20 August above the nuclear power plant. Bild reports that an internal police reported that “the no-fly zone was violated several times.”
The most recent drone incident occurred on 22 August, prompting Schleswig-Holstein police to put some officers on high alert.
Intelligence services preliminarily suspect that Russian agents may be launching the drones from ships in the North Sea for sabotage purposes. The drones are considered Orlan-10 models with a range of 500-600 kilometers and speeds exceeding 100 km/h.
Flensburg’s senior prosecutor, Bernd Winterfeld, confirmed to Bild that a preliminary investigation is underway allegedly on suspicion of agent activity for sabotage in connection with repeated drone flights over critical infrastructure in Schleswig-Holstein.
Unknown drones were observed monitoring Ukrainian soldiers during training in Germany. Two German-Russian citizens were arrested earlier this year on suspicion of planning sabotage at a US base in Bavaria.
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