Germany’s Hannover airport suspended flight operations for more than an hour overnight after an unidentified drone was spotted in the airspace above the site, prompting an emergency response from federal police and aviation authorities.
Runways were closed between approximately 4:00 a.m. local time and 5:20 a.m. on Tuesday, an airport spokeswoman told the German Press Agency. Six passenger flights were delayed and a cargo plane arriving from Paris was diverted during the shutdown. Normal operations resumed by mid-morning, the spokeswoman said.
The drone was later discovered near a Ukrainian Antonov An-124 cargo aircraft parked at the airport, according to security sources cited by DPA. Specialists from Germany’s federal police were dispatched to the scene and successfully defused the device. It remained unclear whether the overnight drone sighting and the device found near the cargo plane were connected.
The incident comes amid growing unease across Germany over a surge in airspace incursions by drones. Earlier this month, two drones flew over a Bundeswehr base in Mechernich, Lower Saxony, that stores Patriot air-defence system components, days after an explosive drone reached the runway at Leipzig airport. German authorities have since moved to bolster their counter-drone capabilities.
The state security branch of the criminal police has taken over the investigation into the Hannover incident, Lower Saxony officials confirmed. Federal police have been assigned a dedicated anti-drone unit of approximately 130 officers equipped with jamming systems and interceptor drones, a deployment that was announced in recent days in direct response to the string of airport and military base incursions.
The discovery of the device near the Ukrainian An-124 transport aircraft added a sensitive dimension to the case. The large Soviet-designed cargo plane is commonly used for heavy-lift logistics operations and has been a regular presence at European airports throughout the conflict in Ukraine. Authorities have not publicly linked the drone to any state actor or specified its origin.
Germany’s drone security landscape has shifted rapidly this year. Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government has fast-tracked legislation to give police forces across the country authority to shoot down rogue drones in restricted airspace, a measure that had previously been stalled over civil liberties concerns. The Hannover episode is likely to intensify calls for the bill to pass the Bundestag before the autumn session.
The incident also raises questions about the security of Germany’s civilian aviation infrastructure at a time when the country is significantly ramping up its defence posture. With several military bases storing advanced NATO equipment scattered across the country, officials acknowledge that the gap between detection capability and response time remains a vulnerability that adversaries could seek to exploit.
Yahoo/DPA – Germany’s Hanover Airport suspends flights after drone sighted
Euractiv – Germany boosts police anti-drone unit after airport incident
Sources: DPA, Euractiv, Yahoo News
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