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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz convened the national security council Friday after an explosive-laden drone was discovered near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig-Halle Airport and another aircraft collided with an unidentified object in mid-air this week.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt described the incident at Leipzig-Halle Airport early Wednesday as “a hybrid attack,” saying it represented “a new level of danger.”
German authorities have not publicly identified who was responsible. Dobrindt, however, said a “foreign power” may have been involved.
The incident comes amid a broader campaign of sabotage, espionage and disinformation that German security services have blamed on Russia.
Leipzig-Halle Airport in eastern Germany is an important hub for military and logistics transport. It is used for moving military goods by the German armed forces and NATO allies and also serves as a base for Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines.
According to German daily Bild, an airport employee spotted the drone hovering near a Ukrainian aircraft and brought it to the ground before police arrived.
Authorities then deployed a bomb disposal robot, while air traffic at the airport was suspended for several hours.
The drone was later rendered harmless.
Prosecutors said the aircraft was equipped with “professional explosives and a detonator” and that it did not explode only because the detonator was defective.
Authorities have not disclosed the type of explosive found on the drone.
Unconfirmed media reports, however, said it may have been Semtex, a plastic explosive used for industrial and military purposes.
Semtex has previously been used by militant and insurgent groups, including the Irish Republican Army (IRA). In 1988, the explosive was used to bring down a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.
Prosecutors described the Leipzig incident as “a serious attack on Germany’s transport and logistics infrastructure” that could have “threatened Germany’s external and internal security.”
The temporary shutdown at the airport also forced a cargo aircraft to abandon its planned landing there.
That aircraft was later struck by an unidentified object while in the air.
The plane landed safely in Hanover, where authorities discovered what they described as “minor damage” to the aircraft.
German police subsequently searched the area near where the impact was believed to have occurred, looking for remnants of the unidentified object or other evidence.
Authorities have so far reported no discoveries from the search.
Germany is Ukraine’s most important supplier of military equipment in its fight against Russia’s invasion.
The German government has not accused Russia of responsibility for the latest incidents.
Some opposition politicians, however, have publicly raised the possibility of Russian involvement.
Katharina Droege of the Greens told Welt newspaper that the incident “could be an act of Russian state terrorism.”
The national security council meeting called by Merz on Friday was set to discuss both the explosive drone discovered near the Ukrainian cargo aircraft and the separate mid-air collision involving the unidentified object.
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