Germany is preparing to develop a national cyberdome to defend against digital attacks in tandem with the deployment of mobile counter-drone teams and increased AI-enabled surveillance. The plan also would allow private companies to shoot down hostile drones to defend themselves.

The broad “blueprint” for digital and drone defense comes in the wake of an unsuccessful Aug. 4 drone sabotage attempt at Leipzig Airport. German authorities have named Russia as the culprit. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyden says she fully supports the German assessment of Russian culpability.

“Russia’s hybrid attacks using explosive drones against airports, agents in our cities, cyberattacks on our networks and sabotage of our infrastructure are a daily reality,” said German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt in an interview with the German newspaper Bild. “These attacks will intensify but we can fight back and defend ourselves.”

Germany’s federal police force has recorded 165 acts of suspected sabotage, 24 espionage investigations and 747 suspect drone flights during the first eight months of 2026, according to local media. Those acts of sabotage appear to be continuing. German authorities were conducting a manhunt for an alleged saboteur who targeted four electrical substations as September unfolded. Germany also is creating a joint task force with the Baltic states to respond to drone incursions on a regional level.

The digital cyberdome portion of the new anti-sabotage initiative would consist of a nationwide network of digital sensors designed to detect and stop cyberattacks. Dobrindt didn’t discuss details like cost and timetable, but the system is likely to be linked to drone detection. Also in the mix is AI-assisted surveillance, especially at railway stations, and the use of biometric facial recognition to track suspect saboteurs.

Rapid-response mobile drone defenders will be stationed across nine cities: Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Berlin, Stuttgart, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Hanover and Cologne. In a move that may be emulated elsewhere, Germany would allow critical infrastructure operators—water utilities, energy companies and defense plants—to legally counter and neutralize unauthorized drones without having to wait for law enforcement agencies to arrive on the scene. The German plan suggests the need for a new cadre of corporate private security staff trained as drone interceptors that opens up a box of legal and safety questions.