Germany: Unknown drone crashes near Bundeswehr air base
A large-scale police operation is underway in Germany near Hanover after wreckage of an unidentified drone was found close to the Wunstorf military airfield. The drone's origin remains unknown.
German authorities are conducting a major police operation after debris from an unidentified drone was discovered east of Lake Steinhude, near Hanover. The news was first reported by Bild and relayed by European Pravda.
According to Lower Saxony's State Office of Criminal Investigation (LKA), the drone came down in an uninhabited, open area. The site lies roughly one kilometer from the German Armed Forces' air base in Wunstorf, a fact confirmed to Bild by the Bundeswehr itself.
Because the affected area is fairly large, numerous emergency personnel have been deployed to the scene. Police are searching the grounds with a substantial contingent of officers, looking for additional drone fragments. Investigators have reportedly known about the find since Monday.
The LKA states that there are currently no indications of danger to the public, though the search operation will continue. It remains unclear who owns the drone or where it came from. Investigators intend to recover and analyze the remaining parts of the aircraft, after which further details about the circumstances of the incident may emerge.
As a reminder, on September 1 Germany directly accused Russia of a hybrid attack at Leipzig airport in early August and announced retaliatory measures.
