NATO air base in Germany remains on maximum alert due to suspicion of a foreign threat..

The NATO air base in the German town of Geilenkirchen remained on maximum alert on Friday, a spokesperson said, after the security level was raised overnight 'based on intelligence information indicating a potential threat'. 'We are still at Charlie,'  said a base spokesperson, referring to the second highest alert state of four. The Charlie security level is defined as 'an incident has occurred or intelligence has been received indicating that some form of terrorist action against NATO organizations or personnel is highly probable'
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A screen displays a message in front of the main gate after the NATO air base in the German town of Geilenkirchen increased its security level 'based on intelligence information indicating a potential threat', in Geilenkirchen, Germany. (Picture source: Local residents )

The Geilenkirchen base is one of the most important bases in the American setup within NATO. Indeed, it not only houses AWACS aircraft, which are dedicated to high-altitude radar surveillance and communication relay between aircraft, but also encompasses all command centers and control stations, as well as all personnel who may be deployed on the E3-Sentry AWACS

The spokesperson stated that the base, housing NATO's fleet of AWACS surveillance aircraft, was operating with minimal personnel as a precaution, while operations continued as planned.
She added that there was no connection with an incident that occurred last week, when the base's security level was briefly raised while a military base near Cologne was investigating a suspected sabotage of the water supply.
On the same day, the Geilenkirchen base also reported an attempted intrusion which led to a thorough search of the premises.

Regarding the suspected sabotage at the Cologne base, the German military later gave the all-clear, stating that test results showed that the tap water was not contaminated.

NATO has previously warned against a campaign of hostile activities by Russia, including acts of sabotage and cyberattacks. Russia regularly accuses NATO of threatening its security.

In June, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the western military alliance had observed an escalation in the situation and that recent attacks were the result of increased activity by Russian intelligence services.
Several incidents on NATO territory have been considered suspicious by analysts in recent years, including the severing of a vital submarine cable connecting Svalbard to mainland Norway in 2022, as well as several fires in armaments factories or depots storing weapons destined for Ukraine.