Drone Armed With Explosives Prompts German Airport Shutdown
Authorities defused a drone armed with an explosive device at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany on 4 August.
An employee saw the drone near a parked cargo plane run by Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines, which is responsible for carrying the majority of the nation’s aerial cargo. The sighting prompted the airport to close both its runways, diverting flights to other airports while it responded to the unauthorized device.
Officials deployed an explosives-disposal robot to the airport to remove the device's detonator. They then initiated a controlled explosion, according to the Associated Press.
A second unidentified object collided with a cargo airplane near the airport, although the plane landed in Hanover with only minor damage, according to BBC News.
The airport is used by the German military and NATO allies for transporting military goods. It is also a base for Antonov Airlines and a major hub for logistics and shipping company DHL.
Flights partially resumed after the incident, but at least the southern runway remained closed through 5 August. Authorities said that while there was no longer a danger to airport and airline staff or passengers, the southern runway was undergoing maintenance.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced that the airport drone discovery presents “a new quality of danger,” and is a “hybrid” kind of attack, according to the AP.
“Drone sightings, drone threats including in a hybrid context, are something we know from the past,” Dobrindt said. “That a drone armed with explosives is at an airport is a new threat scenario.”
A counterterrorism investigation into the drone and its origin is ongoing, according to Reuters. Authorities are also searching for parts of the second drone that collided with the cargo plane.
The drone's explosive was made of 800 g (1.8 lbs) of pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and possibly semtex, according to The Guardian. The bomb did not explode on its own due to a faulty detonator. PETN has been used in various notable incidents, including the Pan Am 103 explosion in 1988 and Richard Reid's attempted shoe bombing in 2001.
“We are dealing here with a competition that may also include foreign powers—this will be part of the investigations—who quite obviously want to contribute to considerable uncertainty in Germany,” Dobrindt said, as reported by The Guardian.
German authorities did not specifically mention Russia as a suspect in the incident. There have been several incursions involving drones in recent months at German airports, energy terminals, industrial sites, logistics companies, military bases, and seaports since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Authorities have said a Russian element is likely involved in these drone operations, but Moscow has denied involvement.
