Testing of NATO Air Transport Security? Drone Alert in Germany

A drone carrying a suspected explosive device was found overnight at the German Leipzig Airport right next to a Ukrainian Antonov AN-124. If the incident is confirmed, it would mark the first time one of NATO’s most important strategic air transport hubs has been directly affected. The German Bild newspaper was the first to report on the incident.

“Shortly before midnight, a drone was discovered on the ground on the tarmac. According to BILD’s information, an unknown object was attached to it. The explosive detail: it contained a detonator! Investigators classified it as a possible explosive device,” Bild reported this morning, adding: “According to BILD’s information, the drone with the detonator was located in the immediate vicinity of a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane. The Federal Police dispatched bomb disposal experts and planned to carry out a controlled detonation of the unknown object containing the detonator. A remote-controlled bomb disposal robot was deployed. It is unclear whether the detonation took place.”

The SALIS Agreement on Strategic Air Transport

SALIS is a multinational support partnership among nine NATO member states that provides participating nations with guaranteed access to strategic air transport capabilities. Managed by the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), the program is based on a five-year contract signed in 2021 with Antonov Logistics SALIS and provides participants with Antonov AN-124-100 transport aircraft for very heavy or oversized cargo.

These Antonovs transport everything that does not fit into smaller transport aircraft such as the A400M. The Antonovs are thus the true heavy-duty workhorses of the participating NATO countries, whose strategic airlift capabilities — including the ability to land even under adverse conditions on less-than-ideal runways — have so far been rarely matched.

The contract guarantees participants access to up to five aircraft: Three aircraft are available with lead times of 72 hours, six days, and nine days, respectively; two additional aircraft can be deployed depending on their availability. In return, the participating nations guarantee a minimum annual usage of 1,500 flight hours, although this figure is typically exceeded by a wide margin. Additionally, other large-capacity cargo aircraft, such as the Ilyushin IL-76, can be utilized under the agreement as needed.

Antonov AN-124

With a payload of up to 120 metric tons, the AN-124 is one of the most capable transport aircraft in the world and is used in particular when large military equipment or extensive relief supplies need to be transported on short notice.

In the past, SALIS has been used, among other things, for military transports to and from Afghanistan, to support earthquake relief efforts in Pakistan, and for African Union missions in Darfur. SALIS also played a key role during the COVID-19 pandemic in transporting urgently needed medical equipment.

Today, SALIS supports the transport of materiel to the multinational NATO combat forces on the eastern flank, thereby contributing significantly to the rapid strategic deployment capability of the participating nations. Operational coordination of airlift capacity is handled by the Strategic Airlift Coordination Cell at the Movement Coordination Center Europe (MCCE) in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Another possible drone incident in Leipzig

However, the Antonovs used for SALIS are usually stationed at Leipzig/Halle Airport (LEJ) — the very place where the drone with the detonator was found and where another drone attack may even have taken place. German Bild newspaper reports on last night’s events at Leipzig Airport: “Flight operations were immediately suspended, and air traffic was rerouted. As a result, a cargo plane had to abort its takeoff. According to BILD’s information, shortly thereafter, the plane collided with an unknown object at an altitude of 400 meters, about 6 kilometers from the airport. The aircraft landed in Hanover, where minor damage to the front section was detected.”

Leipzig Airport has been one of the operational bases for NATO’s Antonov aircraft since the launch of SALIS program in 2006. From there, the aircraft are mobilized, maintained, and dispatched on missions around the world.

Before the Russian attack on Ukraine, the actual home base was Hostomel near Kyiv (Ukraine), while Leipzig (Germany) primarily served as the maintenance and operational base.

However, following the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022, the entire airworthy Antonov An-124 fleet was gradually relocated to Leipzig/Halle. As a result, the airport has effectively become Antonov Airlines’ main base outside of Ukraine. The maintenance facilities are now also located there, and Antonov is even building its own large maintenance hangar.

But yesterday’s incident shows that the security of this extremely important military transport hub is, at the very least, at risk. And it must be addressed, because there are essentially no alternatives to the Antonov, at least not in the SALIS partner countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary).

Author: Dorothee Frank, Editor-in-Chief Online