German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the explosive-laden drone found near a runway at Leipzig/Halle airport overnight was a hybrid attack which opened a new level of danger.
Germany opened a counterterrorism investigation yesterday after the drone prompted the closure of parts of one of Europe’s biggest cargo hubs.
“Drone sightings and drone threats in a hybrid context are something we have known from the past, but a drone armed with explosives being present on airport grounds is a new threat scenario,” Dobrindt said, after an emergency meeting with the heads of Germany’s security services yesterday day night.
Airport workers discovered the drone in a restricted cargo area near the southern runway overnight.
Flights were suspended and several aircraft, including some owned by German logistics firm DHL, were diverted.
Authorities said there had been no danger to passengers or airport staff and most operations resumed by morning after one runway was reopened.
All speculation about the explosives, the drone, its origin, and who is behind it, is now part of the investigation, the interior minister said.
“It is part of the nature of hybrid threats that it is not always immediately clear where they originate,” Dobrindt said.
German airports are on high alert after a series of unauthorised drone overflights at sites including military facilities, energy terminals, seaports and logistics companies.
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