Tech. Sgt. Matthew Stubblefield of the 569th U.S. Forces Police Squadron aims a handheld counter-drone device near Miesau, Germany, on July 16, 2025, during an exercise with German authorities. The exercise was held near Ramstein Air Base, where officials in December confirmed that drone incursions had happened at the installation. (Emily Roemer/U.S. Army)
STUTTGART, Germany — U.S. military police and German authorities this month practiced taking down a small drone during drills near Ramstein Air Base, which has seen multiple airspace violations in the past year by unmanned aircraft.
U.S. Air Forces Europe and Africa personnel on July 16 flew a DJI Phantom 4 drone over an Army installation near Miesau, where troops used signal disrupting technology to neutralize it, U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz said Tuesday in a statement.
“Our procedures are sound,” Staff Sgt. Michael Sopha of the 569th U.S. Forces Police Squadron said in the statement. But he added that in the future, the capabilities of drones “will be far greater, supporting the need for alternative systems to combat them on a large scale.”
In December, Ramstein officials and German police confirmed that there had been a series of unauthorized drone flights over the base, which is the Air Force’s largest in Europe.
Weeks earlier, drones also were repeatedly spotted in the United Kingdom in the vicinity of RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Fairford and RAF Feltwell.
The military never publicly identified who was responsible for the unauthorized flights. However, German police statements at the time said the types of drones that flew over Ramstein weren’t typical commercial hobby aircraft.
U.S. Army personnel and local police also participated in the training, according to the statement.
Tech. Sgt. Keith Pascale of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Africa Warfare Center combat training school pilots a DJI Phantom 4 drone during an exercise near Miesau, Germany, on July 16, 2025. A series of unauthorized drone flights over Ramstein Air Base was confirmed in December. (Emily Roemer/U.S. Army)
Civilian Emily Roemer, an antiterrorism officer with the Rheinland-Pfalz garrison, said bringing service members and German law enforcement together was necessary to replicate the military response to a drone incursion.
The proliferation of small drones has raised security concerns across Europe.
German military bases also have dealt with similar problems. In 2024, drones made repeated intrusions at a German army base near Berlin used for training Ukrainian troops.
“This is clearly organized and strongly points to Russia,” German parliamentarian Marcus Faber of the center-right Free Democratic Party told the German newspaper Bild at the time.
