Germany warns of ‘new threat’ after explosives-packed drone targets airport

By Sophie Tanno, CNN

(CNN) — German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has warned that an explosives-laden drone discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport represents a “new threat scenario” for Germany, as counterterrorism investigators examine whether foreign actors could have been involved in the incident that briefly forced the suspension of flights overnight into Wednesday.

Dobrindt described the discovery as an escalation from previous cases involving unauthorized drones near airports. “Drone sightings, drone threats including in a hybrid context, are something we know from the past,” he told reporters during a news briefing Wednesday. “That a drone armed with explosives is at an airport is a new threat scenario.”

It remains unclear at this stage who was behind the incident, although Dobrindt said, “We are dealing with a competition here which may also include foreign powers.”

The interior minister said that the operation did not appear to be the work of amateurs but rather had been professionally planned and executed.

His comments came a day after German authorities said a drone carrying an explosive device was found near the airport’s south runway, where cargo flights operate, forcing the temporary suspension of all flights. A bomb disposal robot was deployed and the detonator attached to the drone was removed. Images of the scene showed the robot close to a Ukrainian cargo plane.

A second, unidentified flying object collided with a cargo plane after the aircraft aborted its landing due to the runway being closed, police said. The plane sustained minor damage but landed safely at Hannover Airport instead.

Leipzig/Halle Airport is one of the top cargo hubs in Europe. It has hosted Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines transport aircraft since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 destroyed the carrier’s home airport.

According to a report in German newspaper Bild, investigators believe only a technical malfunction may have prevented the device attached to the drone from detonating. Investigators are now examining the device as part of efforts to determine its origin, Bild reported.

The newspaper also reported investigators suspect the second flying object that struck the cargo aircraft may have been operating as a surveillance drone, possibly carrying a camera intended to record an attack. German authorities have not confirmed those details.

The incident comes as Germany remains on heightened alert over unauthorized drone activity following a string of incidents near military facilities, industrial sites and other critical infrastructure. Security officials have increasingly warned that commercially available drones could be used for espionage, sabotage or other forms of hybrid warfare, particularly as tensions with Russia remain heightened.

Elsewhere in Europe, drones spotted near airports have halted flights, NATO airspace has been violated in Poland and Romania, and underwater cables have been disrupted in the Baltic Sea, sparking fears of sabotage. Russia has not claimed responsibility for any involvement in these incidents.

Security agencies across the continent have warned of a growing threat from Moscow, amid a push to substantially beef up European defenses. In December, the incoming head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6 warned that the UK is “now operating in a space between peace and war” and “the front line is everywhere.”

“We all continue to face the menace of an aggressive, expansionist and revisionist Russia, seeking to subjugate Ukraine and harass NATO,” Blaise Metreweli said.

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