Germany will give police the power to shoot down illegal drones, such as those that have disrupted operations at airports across Europe and that some European leaders have blamed on a hybrid war waged by Russia, Reuters reported.
The new law, passed by the cabinet on Monday and awaiting approval by parliament, explicitly authorizes police to shoot down drones that violate German airspace, including in cases of acute threat or serious damage.
Other techniques available to shoot down drones include using lasers or jamming signals to disrupt control and navigation links.
The new law comes after dozens of flights were diverted or cancelled at Munich airport - Germany's second largest - leaving more than 10,000 passengers stranded due to drone sightings.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested that Russia was behind many of the drones flying over Germany last weekend, but none of them were armed and were more likely to have been carrying out reconnaissance flights.
EU leaders have come to view Russia as a major threat to the continent's security since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in 2022.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last month called for a "wall of drones" - a network of sensors and weapons to detect, track and neutralise intruding drones - to protect Europe's eastern flank.
However, some believe that the drones involved in recent incidents may have also been launched from the EU.
With the new law, Germany joins other European countries that have recently given their security forces the power to shoot down drones that violate their airspace, including Britain, France, Lithuania and Romania.
It states that to prevent dangers posed by drones on land, in the air or on water, the police "may use appropriate technical means against the system, its control device or its control link if preventing the danger by other measures would be futile or significantly hindered."
According to Deutsche Flugsicherung, Germany has recorded 172 air traffic violations related to by drones, between January and the end of September 2025, compared to 129 in the same period last year and 121 in 2023.
However, shooting down drones can be dangerous in densely populated urban areas, and airports do not necessarily have systems that can immediately report drone sightings.