2 drones spotted flying over German military base after drone with explosives found at cargo airport

A view of the entrance to the Bleiberg Barracks, in Mechernich, Germany. Around 10:00 p.m. on Thursday evening, the security center at the Bundeswehr base in Mechernich reported that two drones had been spotted over the property, a spokeswoman for the Bundeswehr's Operational Command confirmed upon inquiry. (Fotoreport-DB/dpa via AP)

BERLIN — Two drones were spotted flying over a German military base in the western part of the country earlier this week, just two days after a drone carrying explosives was found at a key cargo airport, the German Armed Forces said on Saturday.

Security surveillance at the Bundeswehr base in Mechernich reported seeing two drones around 10 p.m. on Thursday, according to a statement from the German Joint Force Command. The sightings were confirmed and military police forces deployed to the site.

The military said the Euskirchen police department has opened an investigation. The police did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the military did not release additional details.

Recently, drone sightings over civilian and cargo airports have been more widely reported. Last year, mysterious drone flights over the airspace of European Union member countries alarmed the public and authorities, and also prompted the cancellation of dozens of flights that stranded thousands of passengers.

Thursday’s sighting of the two drones came after a drone with explosives was found at Germany’s Leipzig/Halle Airport shortly before midnight on Tuesday. The device was defused but German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the incident posed a “new quality of danger.”

Leipzig/Halle is a major hub for international freight and for providing support to Ukraine. The planes that regularly use it include Ukrainian Antonov transport aircraft.

It is also home to NATO’s Strategic Airlift International Solution, or SALIS, which is currently operational almost every day in delivering equipment to NATO battle groups along its eastern flank from Finland to Romania and supporting EU and alliance nation missions.

In 2024, an incendiary device ignited at a logistics center at the airport and set fire to a freight container, part of a plot that Western security officials suspect was organized by Russian intelligence.

Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.

The Russian Embassy in Germany on Friday called the Leipzig drone incident part of a “new wave of anti-Russian hysteria in Germany.”

Stefanie Dazio, The Associated Press