Under the title "Netzwerk 22", a drill lasting several days will be held by the Vienna Police and the Austrian Armed Forces with the responsible department of the Ministry of the Interior until December 1, 2022. The guiding theme is the "energy crisis", with an intensified scenario derived from current world events. On Wednesday, a media event on the premises of Austrian Power Grid in Vienna-Favoriten provided an insight into one of the drill scenarios.
The protection of critical infrastructure was the focus of today's drill, and the location was at one of the hubs of Austria's nationwide energy supply, as Vienna's largest transformer station is located at Johannesberg. The assumption was a worst-case scenario: at around 10:00 a.m., a dark blue Citroën drives into the premises of the TSO Austrian Power Grid (APG) at the outskirts of Favoriten. Its destination is the substation Wien Südost. What the occupants in the vehicle stolen from an AGP employee do not know is that they have already been registered by a drone.
When the car enters the APG premises, it comes into contact with the armed forces. They are already waiting for the vehicle with drawn weapons and stop it. The trio, masked with balaclavas, manages to get out of the car and pulls out automatic rifles, but when the first one is hit in the leg by a bullet of one of the soldiers who by far outnumber the criminals, his two cronies realize the hopelessness of their situation and surrender. Almost at the same time, two police vehicles arrive behind them, and the executive officers take care of the arrests of the suspected terrorists.
Major General Karlheinz Dudek of the Vienna Police Directorate described the initial scenario for the drill days of "Network 22", in which Austria is under the impression of a conflict between the two parties "Red Country" against "Yellow Country", including a shortage of gas supplies and demonstrations throughout the EU. In this delicate situation, an anarchist group has emerged with the aim of seizing the opportunity to destabilize the political system by attacking the critical infrastructure. In view of this situation, the executive forces call for support from the Austrian Armed Forces in the form of a security police assistance mission, because according to the Defense Act, “the Armed Forces can only follow such a call” if the police can no longer perform their duties without it.
Such drills have existed in Austria for some time; according to Dudek, a similar one was first conducted in 1999. The expert in the field of strategy and organization explained that three factors are essential: thinking in scenarios and their effects, practicing integrated military staff work including a joint assessment, and the third, most important point, building mutual trust through these drills: "knowing heads in a crisis" is the motto.
Meanwhile, the series of ‘Netzwerk’ drills of the Vienna Police Directorate and the Austrian Armed Forces has been running for eleven years, according to Dudek. The inaugural "Network 11" also included today's venue. At that time, the simulated scenario was: "Terrorists are planning attacks on the APG power plant, the substation southeast in Favoriten and the power plant Simmering". "The drill is another important building block regarding the joint practice of procedures, the coordination of measures and avoiding crises in the event of an emergency," APG company spokesperson Christoph Schuh noted in a statement before this year's drill.
Press contact
Christoph Schuh