Near the Bundeswehr air base in Wunstorf in Lower Saxony, police found fragments of a drone and, a few meters away from them, a suspicious substance that investigators preliminarily believe to be explosives. Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Criminal Police Office are checking whether this is linked to an attempted act of sabotage at Leipzig/Halle Airport in Germany.
The find was reported by the German outlets Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR, and WDR. A farmer spotted the drone, broken into several pieces, about a week ago near the Wunstorf military airfield, and a few days later police found suspicious material nearby.
Forensic examination of the substance has not yet been completed, so the conclusion that it is explosives remains preliminary. Investigators also do not rule out that the drone may have been lying near the base for up to two years, and have not yet established whether it is connected to the Leipzig operation.
The device from Wunstorf is structurally similar to the drones used in the attempted attack on Leipzig/Halle Airport, and at least one of its parts was 3D-printed. In early September, the German government officially blamed Russia for that attempt, while Moscow denied involvement.
Wunstorf is the main base of Germany’s military transport aviation, home to the 62nd Military Transport Air Wing and all 53 Airbus A400M aircraft of the German Air Force. Germany received the last, 53rd, A400M in April 2026. On Tuesday, the find was also discussed at the weekly meeting of the heads of German security services at the Federal Chancellery, and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on details of the investigation.
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