German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has warned that an explosives-laden drone discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport represents a “new threat scenario” for Germany. The discovery was made near the airport’s south runway, where cargo flights operate, forcing the temporary suspension of all flights.

Investigation Underway

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. 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. 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.

Security Concerns

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.

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. 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.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.