Germany to double anti-drone police after Leipzig UAV

Germany will double the personnel in its federal police anti-drone unit to 300 after an explosives-laden UAV was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane at Leipzig-Halle airport, the government said on Monday.

A ministry spokeswoman said the number of operational bases for the unit would rise from four to eight. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt also plans to formally open a new drone technology research centre next week, attached to the German Aerospace Center.

Dobrindt described the Leipzig-Halle incident as a potential “hybrid attack scenario” involving a possible “foreign power”. The UAV was defused after being found near a Ukrainian cargo plane at the airport in eastern Germany.

News weekly Die Zeit reported, citing security camera footage, that the drone bounced off one wing of an Antonov plane hours before an airport employee found it around midnight. Die Zeit said it remained unclear why the explosives did not detonate; that account was not confirmed.

Die Zeit and Bild reported on Monday that investigators had found traces of DNA on the drone. Die Zeit said the DNA had previously been registered in Lithuania, but gave no further details.

Leipzig-Halle airport is used for military goods transport by the German armed forces and NATO allies and is also a base for Ukraine's Antonov Airlines.

Germany and other European countries have reported UAVs over sensitive sites including airports, military bases and industrial plants. German authorities have said they suspect Russia of orchestrating many such incidents as part of sabotage, espionage and disinformation activity.

Russia has denied involvement in such incidents. Russia's embassy last week dismissed the Leipzig case as a provocation.