Hannover Airport in Germany closed over unidentified drone
Hannover Airport in Germany was closed on the night of Monday into Tuesday, 11 August, because of an unidentified drone that German police pursued for two hours.
Spiegel reported this, according to Censor.NET.
Details of the incident
After the drone was detected, the runway and airspace at Hannover-Langenhagen Airport were repeatedly closed during the night. A cargo aircraft was also diverted, while several departures and landings were delayed.
The drone was first spotted near the airport at an altitude of around 25 metres. One of the runways was initially closed because of it, followed by the entire airport at around 4:00 a.m. Operations partially resumed after the drone disappeared, but it was spotted again over the airport at 4:21 a.m., prompting another suspension of flights. The airport fully resumed operations at 5:20 a.m.
Possible hybrid attack
German police said their drone-detection equipment did not generate any alerts on this occasion, although airport employees and patrol officers repeatedly spotted the drone.
German air traffic control was also unable to locate it. This led law enforcement officers to suspect that it was a commercial drone undetectable by the specialised equipment.
An internal police report stated that, given the critical importance of the infrastructure, "the possibility of hybrid activity cannot be ruled out". At the same time, law enforcement officials stressed that it was currently impossible to determine whether the case was connected to a drone incident in Leipzig several days earlier.
Background
- It was previously reported that a drone had been discovered near a Ukrainian aircraft at the airport on the night of Tuesday into Wednesday, 5 August. It was equipped with explosives and a detonator. According to Die Zeit, it was an Antonov aircraft that likely belonged to the Ukrainian Air Force.
- NATO confirmed that it was aware of the incident. German police deployed a bomb-disposal robot to recover the drone.
- German media later reported that the Ukrainian cargo aircraft near which the explosive-laden drone was discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport was carrying ammunition.
- US intelligence believes that the explosive-laden drone discovered at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany likely belonged to Russia.
