NATO defenses facing Russian drone test, German military chief warns

Russia is expanding its use of drones and other unconventional tactics to undermine NATO and test its air defense systems, Germany’s top military leader said this week.

The warning by Gen. Carsten Breuer follows a series of incursions in a country that serves as a major hub for U.S. forces in Europe. NATO countries, especially those on the eastern flank, are being hit with hybrid attacks every day, said Breuer, the German military’s defense chief.

“Russia is testing us and looking at how we respond,” Breuer told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Hybrid threats including cyberattacks, economic pressure, disinformation and espionage have increased in speed, scale and intensity in recent years, according to an assessment by NATO earlier this year.

Even though it’s still at war with Ukraine, Russia is “already shifting its economy and military to prepare for a wider conflict with the West,” Breuer said.

That assessment lines up with a recent analysis by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center that said Russia may try to exploit an alliance weakened by waning American support.

Within the next three years, the Kremlin could seek to seize a small but symbolically significant area such as regions in or around the Estonian border city of Narva, according to the report.

In the meantime, drone activity with suspected Russian ties has recently escalated in Germany.

On Thursday, police disarmed an explosive-bearing drone found in the secure cargo operations area at Leipzig/Halle Airport near a Ukrainian An-124 Ruslan cargo plane.

The drone apparently failed to explode at its intended target because of a faulty detonator, according to German media outlets.

The incident represents “a new level of threat” for Germany and Europe, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said last week without assigning blame.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, was more direct.

“Who else could it be but Russia?” he said on German broadcaster Welt TV.

Russia has denied any involvement in the Leipzig incident.

Two drones were also spotted late Thursday over a German military base in Mechernich in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia near the Belgian border, the Associated Press reported.

The base hosts personnel who maintain U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems, according to German media reports.

Germany is expanding research into drones to address new security threats, German news outlets reported, citing Dobrindt.

The incidents are the latest in a long-running campaign of NATO airspace incursions across Europe by suspected Russian drones and other aircraft, some of which have involved key U.S. military bases.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies said in a report published last month that it was “highly likely” Russia was behind some 144 surveillance drones flown in the airspace of a dozen NATO countries from August 2024 to February 2026.

Some of the drones flew near Ramstein Air Base in Germany and facilities related to NATO’s nuclear deterrence mission.

The campaign likely had a number of aims, including determining the response times and decision-making thresholds of NATO air defense and civilian-military command systems, according to the report.

Russia has denied responsibility for the incursions.