Drone defense at sea: Exercise Stingray 2024 ensures maritime security!

Drone defense at sea: Exercise Stingray 2024 ensures maritime security!

Warnemünde, Deutschland - Rostock / Neustadt in Holstein / Hamburg / Berlin (ots)

The Federal Police (BPol) has taken a significant step towards improving maritime security in cooperation with the Federal Office for Sea shipping and hydrography (BSH) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). On October 15 and 16, a practical exercise for defense drones took place near Warnemünde, which is part of the national maritime security exercise Stingray 2024. This exercise aims to gain new knowledge to increase security in maritime traffic, especially in view of the increasing threat from unmanned aircraft.

The increasing tensions in an international context, in particular the drone attacks of the Yemeni Huthi-Miliz on merchant ships in the Red Sea, are a serious challenge for maritime security. These attacks, which are usually carried out using remote-controlled drones with explosive device, required an adaptation of the security strategies. The exercise aims to find solutions to effectively protect ship crews from such threats.

most important goals of the exercise

The exercise included the recording and defense against drones and the establishment of registration paths in the event of impending dangers. A practical approach was made possible by chartering the passenger ship MS Binz, which was flowned out by DLR drones. Different scenarios should be played through in these tests to find out how crews from merchant ships can react to drone attacks.

The exercise made it possible for the parties to evaluate various aspects, such as wind conditions, the disturbance of drone approach via radio and the identification of the most endangered areas on board. These tests should ensure that the ship crews are well prepared in an emergency.

The cooperation between the various security authorities, including the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Intelligence Service, brings additional professional input with it and strengthens the effectiveness of the exercise. This cooperation is supported by an administrative agreement between the BPOL and the BSH that has existed since 2016, which is based on the ISPS code, which was introduced after the attacks of September 11th and sets the security standards for access to ships and port systems.

participants of the exercise were not only the originally mentioned institutions, but also special forces of the federal police who contributed their expertise to the use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) and their defense. This shows how important the exchange between the authorities is in times of new threats to develop effective strategies together.

Overall, this exercise represents significant progress in the maritime security infrastructure and is a direct reaction to the changing threat situation in international maritime traffic. With the strengthening of the security measures, the aim is to protect trading and passenger ships from the increasing dangers through modern warfare and technologies.

The press offices of the respective institutions are available for detailed information on the exercise and role of the authorities involved.