Explosive drone found hovering near Ukrainian cargo aircraft at German airport
Explosive drone found hovering near Ukrainian cargo aircraft at German airport
德国机场发现无人机携带爆炸物，目标疑为乌克兰货机
German police disarmed a drone carrying explosives after it was discovered near Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked at Leipzig airport—and authorities are looking into the possibility of a second drone after an approaching aircraft collided with something midair. 德国警方在莱比锡机场停放的乌克兰货机附近发现了一架携带爆炸物的无人机，并将其拆除。与此同时，由于一架进场飞机在空中与不明物体发生碰撞，当局正在调查是否存在第二架无人机。
The drone was first spotted by an airport employee hovering close to the ground between two parked An-124 cargo aircraft owned by Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines shortly before midnight on August 4, according to The Guardian. It had apparently been modified to help avoid detection by the airport’s drone defense sensors, said Alexander Dobrindt, federal minister of the interior for Germany, during a press conference. 据《卫报》报道，8月4日午夜前不久，一名机场员工发现该无人机在乌克兰安东诺夫航空公司停放的两架安-124货机之间低空盘旋。德国联邦内政部长亚历山大·多布林特（Alexander Dobrindt）在新闻发布会上表示，该无人机显然经过改装，以规避机场无人机防御传感器的探测。
Dobrindt described the drone as carrying a fist-sized package of a substance believed to be the plastic explosive Semtex. Only a failed detonator prevented the drone from exploding near the Ukrainian cargo aircraft, he said. German police used a bomb disposal robot to help disarm the drone and later carried out a controlled explosion, according to BBC News. 多布林特称，无人机携带了一个拳头大小的包裹，据信是塑胶炸药“塞姆汀”（Semtex）。他说，幸亏引信失效，才避免了无人机在乌克兰货机附近爆炸。据英国广播公司（BBC）报道，德国警方动用了排爆机器人拆除了该无人机，随后进行了受控引爆。
Contrary to some media reports, the German Interior Ministry has denied that the apparently targeted Ukrainian cargo aircraft were carrying weapons or other munitions for delivery to Ukraine, according to Deutsche Welle. Instead, government officials described the aircraft as having been empty at the time of the drone incident. 据德国之声报道，与部分媒体的报道相反，德国内政部否认了这些被针对的乌克兰货机当时正在运送武器或其他弹药。政府官员表示，无人机事件发生时，这些飞机处于空载状态。
The incident forced Leipzig/Halle airport—one of Europe’s largest air cargo hubs—to close to all air traffic for several hours. That forced 19 flights to divert away from the airport, including a Boeing 757 operated by the shipping company DHL that was forced to abort its landing approach, according to the flight tracking service Flightradar24. 此次事件迫使欧洲最大的航空货运枢纽之一——莱比锡/哈雷机场关闭了数小时。据航班追踪服务平台Flightradar24显示，这导致19个航班被迫改道，其中包括一架由DHL运营的波音757货机，该机被迫中止了降落程序。
As the DHL-operated aircraft started climbing again, it collided with another flying object midair and diverted to land at Hanover airport with minor damage, German police reported in a statement. German authorities are looking into the possibility that the object was a second drone. 德国警方在一份声明中报告称，当这架DHL货机重新爬升时，在空中与另一个飞行物体发生碰撞，随后改道降落在汉诺威机场，机身受损轻微。德国当局正在调查该物体是否为第二架无人机。
The possible culprit and motive
可能的肇事者与动机
German officials have not officially named a suspect behind the attempted attack, but have opened a counterterrorism investigation. Dobrindt acknowledged that “we are dealing with a contest here that possibly involves foreign powers,” and described the incident as a “hybrid threat scenario.” 德国官员尚未正式公布此次袭击企图的嫌疑人，但已启动反恐调查。多布林特承认：“我们正在处理的这场较量可能涉及外国势力”，并将此次事件描述为“混合威胁场景”。
The incident has already spurred Roderich Kiesewetter, a lawmaker and member of the German parliament’s intelligence committee, to more directly describe Russia as being responsible for the “attempted act of terrorism.” 该事件已促使德国议会情报委员会成员、议员罗德里希·基塞韦特（Roderich Kiesewetter）更直接地指出，俄罗斯应对这起“恐怖主义未遂行为”负责。
As a major hub for air cargo, Leipzig/Halle airport frequently oversees the transit of shipments for NATO and the German military. It is also the current home base for Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines, which operates a charter cargo service fleet that includes the world’s largest operational cargo aircraft, the Antonov An-124 Ruslan. 作为主要的航空货运枢纽，莱比锡/哈雷机场经常负责北约和德国军队的物资转运。它也是乌克兰安东诺夫航空公司的现驻地，该公司运营着一支包机货运机队，其中包括世界上最大的现役货机——安东诺夫安-124“鲁斯兰”。
The incident also evoked a potentially telling reaction from Alexander Sosnowski, a pro-Kremlin propagandist who regularly appears as a guest on Russian state television. In a short video posted on Telegram, Sosnowski clearly assumed the attempted attack was a Russian operation targeting the Ukrainian aircraft and expressed disappointment that it had failed, according to The Bild, a German tabloid newspaper. 据德国《图片报》报道，亲克里姆林宫的宣传员亚历山大·索斯诺夫斯基（Alexander Sosnowski，常作为嘉宾出现在俄罗斯国家电视台）对此事的反应也耐人寻味。他在Telegram上发布的一段短视频中，明确认为此次袭击企图是俄罗斯针对乌克兰飞机的行动，并对行动失败表示失望。
Repeated drone incursions and missing defenses
频繁的无人机入侵与防御缺失
These latest incidents follow dozens of drone sightings over other European airports, along with military bases, ports, energy and industrial facilities, since 2024. In May, Munich airport in Germany closed twice within 24 hours following possible drone sightings. 自2024年以来，欧洲其他机场、军事基地、港口以及能源和工业设施上空已多次出现无人机。今年5月，德国慕尼黑机场因疑似无人机出没，在24小时内两次关闭。
Drone incursions have become especially more frequent in Northern and Eastern Europe, given their closer proximity to Russia and the ongoing war in Ukraine. Those incursions have forced fighter jets to scramble repeatedly in response, along with leading to a building fire and injuries in Romania following a Russian drone crash. 鉴于北欧和东欧距离俄罗斯更近，且乌克兰战争仍在持续，无人机入侵事件在这些地区变得尤为频繁。这些入侵迫使战斗机多次紧急升空应对，在罗马尼亚，甚至还发生了俄罗斯无人机坠毁导致建筑物起火和人员受伤的事件。
But the long-promised European Drone Defence Initiative that was supposed to create the equivalent of a “drone wall” to provide counter-drone surveillance and defenses has yet to materialize in any meaningful way, said Ulrike Franke, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, in an article for World Politics Review. Instead, individual European countries such as Poland have been building their own national counter-drone systems. 欧洲对外关系委员会高级政策研究员乌尔丽克·弗兰克（Ulrike Franke）在《世界政治评论》的一篇文章中指出，长期承诺的“欧洲无人机防御倡议”（旨在建立类似“无人机之墙”的监控与防御体系）尚未以任何实质性方式实现。相反，波兰等欧洲国家一直在建立各自的全国性反无人机系统。
Germany has already provided about $118 billion to support Ukraine since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to Deutsche Welle. Beyond supplying weapons and humanitarian aid, Germany has also trained more than 24,000 Ukrainian soldiers and is hosting more than 1 million Ukrainian refugees. 据德国之声报道，自2022年俄罗斯对乌克兰发动全面入侵以来，德国已提供约1180亿美元支持乌克兰。除了提供武器和人道主义援助外，德国还培训了超过2.4万名乌克兰士兵，并收容了超过100万名乌克兰难民。
Some of Germany’s latest cooperative ventures with Ukraine have involved joint production of new military drones. Ars recently covered a $100 million deal—reportedly funded by Germany—that is equipping the Ukrainian military with drones capable of performing AI target tracking. 德国与乌克兰最近的一些合作项目涉及联合生产新型军用无人机。Ars最近报道了一项据称由德国资助的1亿美元协议，该协议旨在为乌克兰军队配备具备人工智能目标跟踪能力的无人机。