German Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) has described the discovery of an explosive-laden drone at Leipzig Airport as a "new threat scenario." Speaking at Leipzig/Halle Airport on Wednesday evening, Dobrindt said it was his assessment "that we are dealing with a hybrid attack scenario here." The Dresden Public Prosecutor's Office has taken over the investigation together with the Saxony State Criminal Police Office (LKA).
According to the Saxony LKA, the drone carrying the explosive charge was discovered overnight on Wednesday by an airport employee in the secure area of the cargo operations near the airport's southern runway. According to the newspaper "Bild," four Ukrainian aircraft were nearby. The airport is considered a hub for military aid shipments to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
The LKA said the drone was examined using an explosive ordnance disposal robot, which confirmed it was fitted with an "unknown explosive device." The detonator was subsequently removed by a Federal Police unit specializing in defusing improvised explosive and incendiary devices.
Air traffic was temporarily halted following the discovery, and several aircraft were diverted. One plane, forced to abort its landing due to the closure and redirected toward Hannover Airport, collided near Leipzig with another flying object. After landing in Hannover, the aircraft was found to have sustained minor damage. According to "Bild," the aircraft was a DHL cargo plane. Saxony's Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) said authorities are now searching for this second flying object.
Dobrindt spoke of a "new quality of danger" and a professional approach. The fact that a drone "armed with explosives is present on airport grounds, that is a new threat scenario," he said, adding that a "high threat level" must be assumed.
This threat, he said, was "not carried out by amateurs" but was "very professionally prepared," requiring "a high degree of technical experience." Experience handling explosives must also have been present, he added. "None of this points to amateurish conduct. We are talking about a professional, hybrid threat situation that we will continue to address."
Germany's joint Hybrid Defense Center and the joint federal-state Drone Defense Center are now also examining this type of threat, Dobrindt said. It could "by no means be ruled out that there will be similar attempts at hybrid actions, hybrid attacks in the future," he stressed. "Nevertheless, we will continue tightening our network of security measures." This includes "active drone defense, which is being continuously equipped with new and additional technology, including at airports and other locations."
Saxony's Attorney General Wolfgang Schwürzer said the investigation is now focused in particular on identifying the perpetrators, establishing how the incident unfolded, tracing the origin of the drone and the explosive device, and determining whether other individuals were involved. "All conceivable criminal backgrounds, including an extremist or terrorist motive, are being examined in every direction."
Without naming a possible party responsible for the explosive drone, Dobrindt spoke of a "contest" that "possibly also includes foreign powers." Questions about the drone's origin and those behind it are now "part of the investigation and should be left to that investigation."
Security experts suspect Russia is behind the drone incident. The find fits "the pattern of Russian hybrid attacks against Germany," Nico Lange, director of the Institute for Risk Analysis and International Security, told the television channel Phoenix. Saxony's Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) called it a "major incident," after which the threat level is "no longer abstract" but "high." "The fact that, for the first time in Germany, a drone was fitted with explosives, at least as far as I recall, speaks volumes, I think, about what kind of scenario we are dealing with."
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