Footage shows drone hitting wing of Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig airport but failing to explode

New information obtained by German media suggests that Leipzig airport came closer to a disaster than previously thought.

Source: European Pravda, citing Die Zeit

Details: According to the outlet, CCTV footage covering most of the airport grounds has now been analysed.

The footage shows an Antonov cargo aircraft parked at the airport. It also shows an object flying directly towards the aircraft at around 19:30 on Tuesday evening.

The object eventually struck one of the aircraft's wings. Wings are particularly vulnerable parts of an aircraft because they usually contain fuel tanks. Anyone seeking to blow up an aircraft would typically detonate an explosive device there.

However, this did not happen in Leipzig. The footage indicates that the object bounced off the wing and fell to the ground. Marks on one of the Antonov's wings appear to corroborate this sequence of events. It remains unclear why the explosive device failed to detonate.

The drone was only discovered by chance four hours later. Die Zeit reported on Wednesday that it was a bus driver who first noticed the device.

Previous reconstructions of the incident suggested that he had nudged the device with his foot and then secured it on the ground. This account was also given by CDU Bundestag member Detlef Seif, who, along with other politicians responsible for domestic affairs, was briefed on the incident by the government on Thursday.

However, the CCTV footage shows that the drone was already lying on the ground when the bus driver approached it. After hesitating briefly, he placed his foot on it and alerted security staff.

Contrary to what had previously been reported, the explosive device was not found on the drone itself but some distance away from it. It may have become detached when the drone collided with the aircraft.

This provides new lines of inquiry for officers from Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office, who took over the investigation at the weekend.

It has now become clearer how exactly the drone approached the aircraft: not cautiously, but with the apparent intention of damaging it.

Its purpose has also become clearer. Until now, one of the investigators' hypotheses was that the drone might merely have been intended as a warning. It was armed, but perhaps not intended to actually explode. That hypothesis has now become almost impossible to sustain. Leipzig airport narrowly avoided a devastating terrorist attack.

So far, the investigation has found no clear evidence that Russia was behind the attempted attack. However, a number of details point to a high degree of professionalism on the part of those responsible.

The drone was not bought from a shop but was purpose-built in a way that would be beyond the capabilities of opportunistic criminals or amateur enthusiasts.

As it was a non-commercial drone, it could not be detected using conventional radar equipment. The Semtex explosive it was carrying was so powerful that it would probably have been capable of destroying the aircraft. Although Semtex can sometimes be obtained on the black market, it is typically used by the military.

The possibility that a state actor was involved in the attempted attack in some capacity is therefore one of the hypotheses being investigated, and it is now considered more likely than before.

Background:

• Last week, a drone equipped with explosives and a detonator was discovered near a Ukrainian aircraft at Leipzig airport after entering the area undetected.
• US intelligence has linked the incident to Russia, while the Russian Embassy in Berlin described the incident in Leipzig as a fabricated provocation.

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