Drone defence Argus Interception: Hamburg Strengthens Police Drone Defence with Counter-UAS System 

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From the Hamburg research environment to operational use: Hamburg Police expands its drone defence capabilities with technology from German counter-UAS specialist Argus Interception.

The threat posed by unidentified drones in the vicinity of airports and other security-sensitive infrastructure in Germany has become significantly more serious in recent years. Hamburg took early action in response. In the run-up to the UEFA EURO 2024 tournament, the Hamburg Police had already developed state-of-the-art capabilities in the field of drone operations and drone defence, and now has powerful systems in place to detect uncooperative drones and effectively counter them in the field. 

To further expand these capabilities and strengthen the police’s drone defence, Hamburg is investing in additional state-of-the-art counter-UAS systems.

The aim is to put systems from Argus Interception into operation before the end of this year. The German technology company develops and produces integrated counter-UAS solutions for armed forces, authorities and operators of security-critical infrastructure.

Detection and decision-making

The new capability complements the existing systems used by the Hamburg Police and expands their scope for action, especially in complex and sensitive operational environments. It is designed for different deployment scenarios: from the protection of critical infrastructure and public events to other security-related situations.

Argus Interception takes an integrated system approach: The decisive factor is not one single piece of technology, but the coordinated interplay of detection, situation overview, evaluation and decision-making, right through to controlled intervention. This adds a further operational option to the Hamburg Police’s existing drone defence capabilities.

Procurement marks the completion of a special journey

Essential technological foundations can be traced back to the Hamburg research environment.The Falke research project, led by the Helmut Schmidt University/ University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburgin collaboration with other partners, investigated how an integrated capability for detecting and defending against uncooperative drones can be implemented under real-world operating conditions.

Over the few past years, Argus Interception has further developed and industrialised the resulting technological approaches and converted them into a counter-UAS solution that is available for operational use. The company’s systems are already being used by the Bundeswehr (German army), amongst others.

‘For us, Hamburg marks the completion of a special journey: this is where our technology has its roots. And today it is being transformed into a concrete operational capability for public safety. This shows how German research, industrial development and close collaboration with users can give rise to operational solutions,’ says Sven Steingräber, co-founder and Chief Sales Officer of Argus Interception GmbH.

‘Hamburg is constantly developing its abilities in the field of drone defence. Not least the attempted attack in Leipzig has made it clear that decisive action and further technological advances are required. By acquiring modern drone detection and interception systems, we are strengthening our protection against hybrid attacks quickly and effectively, using a highly efficient system developed as a result of a research collaboration in Hamburg,’ says Andy Grote, Senator for the Interior and Sports of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

With this procurement, Hamburg is continuing to expand its drone defence capabilities and strengthening its capacity to respond flexibly and responsibly to future operational scenarios