Drone sightings prompt call for German police to gain shoot-down powers

By Ayhan Uyanik

MUNICH (Reuters) -Drone sightings overnight at Germany's Munich airport led to the cancellation and diversion of dozens of flights on the eve of a national holiday, leaving nearly 3,000 passengers stranded and leading politicians to call for a tougher response to drone threats, potentially including shooting them down.

The Munich airport disruption was the latest in a series of similar incidents that have rattled European aviation, raising concerns about deniable hybrid attacks on Ukraine's European allies, possibly directed by Russia. The Kremlin has indeed denied any involvement in the incidents.

The airport said several drone sightings late on Thursday evening had forced air traffic control to suspend operations, leading to the cancellation of 17 flights and disrupting travel for nearly 3,000 passengers, who were provided with camp beds, blankets and food. Another 15 arriving flights were diverted around the region.

"Our police must get the power to shoot drones down," said Markus Soeder, premier of Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital. He told Bild newspaper: "We need sovereignty over our airspace."

As airport operations resumed early on Friday morning, passengers checking in for a flight to Varna in Bulgaria, and the departure board showed only a few flights had been cancelled. A flight from Bangkok was the first of the day to land at around 5:25 a.m. (0325 GMT).

Public broadcaster BR said local and national police were investigating the incident. State and federal police had no immediate comment.

The drones were sighted in the late evening above the airport, a police spokesperson told newspaper Bild. But because it was dark, the sizes and types of the drones could not be determined, he added. Police did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. 

The drone incidents follow airspace intrusions last week that temporarily shut airports in Denmark and Norway, which led European Union leaders at a Copenhagen summit to back plans to bolster the bloc's defences with anti-drone measures. 

"Europe must be able to defend itself," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said after the meeting. Her defence minister spoke on Friday morning of a Russian "hybrid war against NATO and the West".

Authorities have not publicly blamed anyone for the Munich drone incident, but some European officials have suggested Russia was behind other recent airspace violations. 

"Russia tries to test us. But Russia also tries to sow division and anxiety in our societies," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.

Interior minister Alexander Dobrindt, who already plans legislation letting armed forces help shoot down drones, said more money was needed along with research into ways of countering the drone threat.

"The race between the drone threat and drone defences is getting ever tighter," he told Bild.

Russian President Vladimir Putin joked on Thursday that he would not fly drones over Denmark anymore, but Moscow has denied responsibility for the incidents. European authorities have accused Russia of brazen violations of the region's airspace, including recent incursions by drones over Poland and fighter jets over Estonia, while Moscow has in turn accused NATO of provocations.

The airport disruption in Munich added to a tense week for the city after its popular Oktoberfest was closed temporarily due to a bomb threat and the separate discovery of explosives in a residential building in the city's north. 

Friday is German Reunification Day, a public holiday.

(Reporting by Ayhan Uyanik in Munich and Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; writing by Thomas Escritt, Editing by Jamie Freed and Hugh Lawson)