Following the incident involving an explosives-laden drone at Leipzig Airport, investigators believe that several drones were deployed, according to media reports. "A second drone may have collided with a DHL aircraft," the Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR reported on Tuesday, citing investigators. A third drone was also found ten days after the incident in a field in Kabelsketal, west of the airport, the outlets reported, citing security sources.
At the location where the third drone was found, investigators are said to have discovered a substance that, according to initial assessments, may have been around 50 grams of the highly explosive military explosive hexogen, the SZ, NDR and WDR reported, citing security sources. "The perpetrators may have had a far larger attack in mind than has been publicly known to date," the report said.
At Leipzig Airport in early August, a drone loaded with explosives was discovered inside the security area of the cargo operation. Several Ukrainian freight aircraft were located nearby. The airport is regarded as a transhipment point for military aid deliveries to Ukraine in the war against Russia.
A second drone is said to have collided with a DHL cargo aircraft just minutes after the first one was found, according to the SZ, NDR and WDR. The aircraft apparently struck the drone at roughly the height of the airport perimeter fence, travelling at several hundred kilometres per hour. A few seconds earlier, the pilots of the aircraft are said to have seen an object measuring around 30 centimetres.
During an examination of the DHL aircraft, damage was found on the tail unit that points to a collision with an object, according to the SZ, NDR and WDR. However, this drone, or even parts of it, has not been found to date. In the assessment of investigators, the device could also have been drawn into the engines after the collision and shredded into the smallest of fragments, the report went on to say.
It remains unclear who was behind the suspected attack. According to the SZ, NDR and WDR, security sources assume that Russian intelligence services were involved in the planning. Moscow rejects any involvement.
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