Drone over Küstenkraftwerk Kiel (power plant)

On the evening of Thursday, 25 September 2025, a series of drone sightings was reported over critical infrastructure in and around Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. Shortly after 9 p.m., two small drones were observed over the shipyard grounds of the naval defence firm thyssenkrupp Marine Systems. Soon afterwards, a coordinated drone formation described as a "drone cluster with a mother drone" was sighted over the University Hospital. Shortly after 10 p.m., a similar formation appeared over the gas-fired coastal power plant (Küstenkraftwerk) on the Kiel Fjord, near the Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal). A large stationary drone and several smaller flying objects were also reported over the fjord.

The power-plant sighting formed part of a near-simultaneous wave of drone activity across multiple sensitive sites in Kiel that night, which also included the state parliament building (Landeshaus). According to authorities cited in reporting, the drones flew in parallel paths, apparently to map the facilities on the ground precisely. Schleswig-Holstein Interior Minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack confirmed that flying objects of various types and sizes had been observed and briefed the state parliament's interior and legal affairs committee. The chief public prosecutor, Stephanie Gropp, said an investigation into suspected espionage and sabotage targeting critical infrastructure was under way, conducted with federal authorities.

The coastal power plant was one of several critical-infrastructure targets overflown in a coordinated manner in Kiel on the same night, suggesting deliberate reconnaissance rather than incidental flights. The use of a larger "mother" drone with smaller units and the parallel flight paths are consistent with systematic mapping of facilities. Attribution remains unconfirmed and the matter is under official investigation; no party has been definitively identified. The episode fits a wider pattern of unexplained drone sightings over military and infrastructure sites in Germany and neighbouring states during this period, a context that should be treated cautiously and not as proof of any specific actor.