Berlin airport launches drone detection system

Germany's air traffic control authority has put a drone detection system into operation at Berlin's main airport, the Transport Ministry said.

The system at Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) is designed to detect drones at an early stage in approach and departure areas and alert the relevant authorities to potential risks to air traffic, the ministry said.

"We take the increasing threat posed by drones around airports very seriously," Transport Minister Steffen Bilger said at BER late on Tuesday.

He said it had been important to act quickly and equip Germany's international airports with drone detection technology.

The move follows repeated drone sightings near German airports.

The Transport Ministry said further international airports across Germany are expected to be equipped with similar detection systems for their approach and departure areas over the course of the year.

No other German airport recorded as many drone sightings in the first half of the year as BER.

The airport's control tower recorded 28 such sightings during the first six months, according to figures provided by German air traffic control. That was one more than at Frankfurt Airport, Germany's largest.

Flight operations at BER had to be temporarily interrupted in seven of those cases.