A NATO airbase in western Germany on Thursday said it has raised its security to the second-highest level citing intelligence reports of a potential threat.

"We raised the security level at NATO Airbase Geilenkirchen based on intelligence information indicating potential threat," the base said in a post on social media platform X.

"All non-mission essential staff have been sent home as a precautionary measure," the base said in a statement on the social media platform X, without giving details. "The safety of our staff is our top priority. Operations continue as planned."

A spokesperson for the Geilenkirchen airbase said that the security levels had been raised to Charlie+. As per NATO's definition, level Charlie means that there has been an incident or that there is evidence suggesting a high likelihood of terrorist action against the alliance.

On Friday afternoon, NATO AWACS said that the security level had been returned to Bravo+, where it stood prior to the upgrade. 

"The temporary rise to Charlie was a precautionary measure to minimise potential risk to our organization and personnel. All scheduled operations are proceeding as planned," it said. 

The authorities did not provide details on the reasoning behind the moves.

Repeated threats

This is the second time security has been beefed up at a base stationing NATO's fleet of AWACS surveillance planes.

Last week, a military base in Cologne was sealed off to investigate suspected sabotage of water after a hole was found in a fence near drinking water storage facilities.

NATO has earlier warned of threats from Russia that could include acts of sabotage and cyberattacks.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in June said the Western military alliance was observing a pattern evolving and that recent attacks were a result of Russian intelligence becoming more active.

mfi,msh/fb (AFP, dpa, Reuters)