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Leipzig drone near Antonovs
A drone loaded with professional explosives appeared Tuesday night inside the airport in the German city of Leipzig, hovering at a low altitude between two Ukrainian Antonov An-124s, but the detonator was broken and the device did not explode.
“hovering at a low altitude between two Ukrainian Antonov An-124s”
The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office took over the case as a possible attack against the country’s security, and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt spoke of a “new level of danger”.
The discovery temporarily shut down traffic, and a DHL freighter from Marseille had to abort its approach and collided with another object, probably a second drone, before landing in Hanover with minor damage.
The device carried an explosive package about the size of a fist, and cameras indicated it had been inside the premises for hours without being located.
Hybrid threat and laser defense
Germany has not officially attributed the operation to Russia, but Dobrindt said it reflected a “professional hybrid threat scenario” and contemplated the involvement of a foreign power.
Margarita Seselgyte, director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, told EL MUNDO that “Not always, but sometimes it is Russia. One must think about who benefits from what happens. Look at the bigger picture,”.
In a separate report, Stars and Stripes said the U.S. deployed the Compact Laser Weapon System at various undisclosed locations around Europe as a countermeasure to the increasing threat of potential drone strikes.
U.S. Air Forces in Europe–Air Forces Africa Commander Lt. Gen. Jason Hinds said, “We have equipped and trained our personnel with enhanced systems, and installation commanders have the authority and responsibility to defend our forces,”.
Testing NATO and consequences
An analysis published in July by Carnegie Europe said Russia’s military and economic difficulties may increase the incentive to resort to cheap, deniable actions capable of testing NATO’s limits and eroding support for Kyiv.
““testing allied thresholds and fracturing European will.””
Carnegie analyst Maxim Beznosiuk warned of a campaign aimed at “testing allied thresholds and fracturing European resolve,” and Seselgyte summarized the goal as creating “chaos, anxiety, and disagreement until the appetite to help Ukraine is reduced.”
The Leipzig incident was framed as part of a broader pattern in which drones and hybrid tactics reach aviation, with the source noting that in 2024 Finnair suspended its flights to Tartu for a month after two planes returned to Helsinki unable to complete their approach due to GPS interference.
The same source also pointed to a precedent in Lithuania, where in July 2024 four packages containing explosive-incendiary devices left Vilnius and one ignited in Leipzig shortly before being loaded onto a DHL plane bound for the United Kingdom.