Explosive drone found at Leipzig/Halle Airport disrupts flights
Authorities at Leipzig/Halle Airport defused an explosive-laden drone found near a runway, leading to flight disruptions. German officials have characterized the event as a new quality of danger and a hybrid attack scenario, though the perpetrators remain unidentified.
Why it matters
This event signals a shift in security threats to European logistics hubs, suggesting that drones are being utilized as sophisticated tools for sabotage.
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BERLIN (AP) — A drone with explosives was found at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport and the device was defused, authorities said Wednesday, in an incident that the country’s top security official said posed a “new quality of danger.”
Both the runways at the major freight hub were closed and several flights, including one passenger plane, were diverted to other airports after a flying object was sighted nearby shortly before midnight Tuesday. An anti-explosives robot was deployed to check an object near the south runway.
Regional police and prosecutors later said an airport employee discovered a drone near the airport’s south runway with “an unknown explosive device,” and the object was examined by police. They removed its detonator.
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