Theme: Germany

Hubert Aiwanger, Bavaria’s deputy premier, economy minister and chairman of the right-wing populist Free Voters party, was found dead in a Berlin hotel on Wednesday. He was 55. He had been scheduled to speak at the opening of his party’s Berlin office but canceled because of health reasons, according to the dpa news agency. The body was at the Neuer Fritz hotel on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin-Mitte. Berlin prosecutors confirmed that the body was found in the hotel room; the cause of death was not immediately disclosed. Alexander Hoffmann, who heads the Christian Social Union (CSU) group in the Bundestag, mourned the death and called Aiwanger a “politician through and through” who shaped Bavaria.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called the outcome “very good news for American democracy”, saying it is further proof that in a democracy the people write their own history. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said voters had rejected hatred, sexism, climate change denial and privileges for elites, and that the far-right wave “is no longer growing: it is crumbling”. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “must become more European in order to be able to remain transatlantic”, and that Germany is taking on more responsibility and a larger share of the burdens within the alliance. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the world now has an opportunity to unite around the cost of living and expressed hope that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen. Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said Austrian and European security and prosperity must not depend on how people in Kansas or Iowa vote.

The Hamburg Higher Regional Court has scheduled 19 more hearings between February and June 2027, extending until at least mid-2027 the trial over the sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, court press spokeswoman Judge Mareike Franzen said. Sergey Kuznetsov, a former special operations officer of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, is standing trial, charged with a war crime, carrying out explosions, destroying structures and disrupting the operations of public utilities. He was detained in Italy in August 2025 and extradited to Germany.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, ruled out telephone talks with Russia, saying Moscow would use the conversation as a pretext to avoid further meetings; he spoke at a press conference alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin. In the German capital, Zelensky ruled out inviting Vladimir Putin to Kyiv and said no Ukrainian intends to go to Moscow. The president confirmed that Ukrainian, Russian and US officials will meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11, and that Kyiv wants a halt to attacks on energy infrastructure, safe passage for grain shipments through the Black Sea and further prisoner exchanges. Merz said he does not see Russia seriously engaging in ceasefire negotiations and that Europe needs a voice on sanctions and post-war security.

German auto supplier Schaeffler will cut 3,460 jobs and close five sites in Europe, the company said on Tuesday, citing weakening demand for combustion-engine vehicles, slower-than-expected electric-vehicle adoption and intense competition. The cuts affect 16 sites, including four plants in Germany and one in Belgium, with about 2,660 jobs eliminated in Germany by 2028, roughly 9% of the company's core German workforce. Schaeffler expects annual savings of about 300 million euros by 2030, with one-off costs of roughly 480 million euros, most of which will be booked in 2026.

Germany enters winter with its gas storage at 61%, well below the European Union’s 80% target. The country has the bloc’s largest storage capacity, more than a fifth of the total. The TTF contracts for December 2026, January 2027 and February 2027 are trading above 100 euros per megawatt-hour, according to OilPrice.

Germany's federal cybersecurity office (BSI) said over the weekend that members of the Bundestag, Germany's parliament, and other unnamed public figures had received warnings from Apple that they may have been targeted by cyberattacks. Government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said, according to the Financial Times, that Berlin was “taking the incident and the warning very seriously,” but he did not say who in the federal government had been targeted or whether Chancellor Friedrich Merz was among them. Apple does not attribute attacks to specific governments or say whether someone's phone has actually been compromised. For that reason, the BSI said anyone who receives an Apple threat notification “should therefore assume that their device may have been compromised.”

Protests against compulsory military service organized by the group Gen Z regelt, which means “Generation Z takes charge” in German, were scheduled in 34 German cities on Saturday, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, according to Reuters. The group says it opposes compulsory military service and wants greater investment in education. Official figures released on Saturday afternoon fell well below the 182,000 participants the organizers had expected: police in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin registered 6,000 demonstrators, according to Reuters.

Rioters looted several shops in Frankfurt late on Saturday and clashes erupted in the city and in other German cities after largely peaceful mass protests over the cost of living. Frankfurt police said windows of several shops were smashed and Molotov cocktails were thrown at emergency services, and there were incidents of violence in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg, with police using water cannon. The demonstrations, organized by the group Gen Z regelt, took place in 34 cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich, against compulsory military service and for more investment in education, amid the cost of living. Authorities in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin counted as many as 18,000 protesters, roughly half of the organizers' estimate. In France, more than 320,000 people demonstrated on Saturday and 565 were arrested across the country, and a police officer was struck by a Molotov cocktail in Paris.

Germany’s gas storage levels stood at 61.35% as of October 30, well below the 80% target the country has set for November 1, according to the German gas storage association INES, in a Reuters report published by Euronext. The association attributes the low level to the Iran war and its impact on prices, which has made filling the reservoirs over the summer uneconomical.

More than 560 people were arrested across France by Saturday night, according to French authorities cited by the Associated Press (AP), in a third consecutive weekend of protests over living costs and education. In Germany, rioters smashed storefronts in downtown Frankfurt and stole weapons from a gun store, which police later recovered, according to the Korea Herald.

Young people in Germany took to the streets in some 34 cities calling for greater political say and a more hopeful future, according to DW. In Frankfurt, masked rioters looted shops on Oct 31 as the demonstrations turned violent, and police fired water cannons at youths hurling Molotov cocktails, according to the Straits Times. A gun store was among the shops looted, with its windows smashed; police said they arrested a suspect and seized two weapons.

Organizers of the GenZ regelt! movement expect more than 170,000 participants in more than 30 German cities, including Berlin, Frankfurt and Cologne, according to G1. The demands include the rising cost of living, deteriorating conditions in schools and budget cuts.

France is bracing for a third weekend of protests, with police deploying 70,000 officers to prevent a repeat of the riots and looting that have swept the country in recent weeks, and in Germany protests are scheduled in more than 30 cities on Saturday, the Guardian reported.

IG Metall, Germany's largest industrial union, announced on Saturday nationwide warning strikes in the metal and electrical sectors after rejecting the employers' wage offer, a move affecting about 3.7 million workers, according to TRT World. The first work stoppages are scheduled to begin overnight into Sunday. The employers' proposal includes a permanent 1.3 percent increase starting in July 2028 under a 26-month agreement, according to the outlet.

Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, criticized German Chancellor Merz for backing Israeli and US strikes on Iran and warned of a devastating response to anyone who dares harm the Iranian people, according to Mehr News. In a post on his X account late on Friday, Araghchi wrote that Merz hailed the Israeli and US bombings of Iran when they began last year.

More than 160,000 people are expected to join demonstrations across Germany on Saturday, organizers say, in a youth-led movement inspired by protests elsewhere in Europe to demand better education and lower living costs. The rallies, organized by the campaign group Gen Z regelt, are planned in 34 cities including Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. The group says it opposes compulsory military service and wants greater investment in education.

Chinese President Xi Jinping received German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Beijing on Friday and, according to Xinhua, China is ready to work with Germany to open a new chapter in the China-Germany all-round strategic partnership. Xi said history and reality have repeatedly shown that for China and the European Union (EU), cooperation outweighs competition and consensus outweighs differences.

The Gen Z Regelt collective has called protests in German cities for October 31, with more than 150,000 people reportedly registered, according to TRT World. The group demands more education funding, stronger climate action and a fairer distribution of social costs, and in its demands to Chancellor Merz and his coalition government asks for “money for schools instead of cuts” and “an affordable life.”

South Korea and Germany agreed Thursday to upgrade their bilateral ties to an Enhanced Strategic Partnership, under which the two countries will deepen cooperation in security and future technology, according to Yonhap.

German police arrested two Belarusian nationals suspected of planning sabotage attacks in southern Germany, the Munich General Prosecutor’s Office said on Wednesday, according to the Straits Times, and Der Spiegel reported they were working on behalf of Russia. The suspects planned to set fire to a building or critical infrastructure facility in the Nuremberg area, the prosecutor’s office said. Der Spiegel reported that Romanian authorities are also investigating the two men for suspected involvement in an arson attack on an industrial park in Brasov on the night of September 14, the site of a defense firm making grenade launchers and ammunition.

A car was deliberately driven into a group of people in Neustadt am Ruebenberge, a town in northern Germany near Hanover, shortly before midnight on Monday, leaving four to five people with injuries ranging from minor to severe, a police spokesperson said, according to Reuters, in a report published by WHBL.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz kicked off a five-day tour of Asia on Monday, travelling to Singapore before scheduled visits to Japan and South Korea, DW reported. Merz is accompanied by 30 senior businesspeople from industry, technology, defense and energy, and is expected to meet Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Storms battered northern Europe on Sunday, cutting power to more than 150,000 homes, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and silencing phone networks, according to AFP. Authorities in the countries said more than 82,000 homes in Britain, nearly 60,000 in France and at least 10,000 in Germany had power cuts inflicted by storms Boelo and Austen within 24 hours of each other. Amsterdam's Schiphol airport cancelled dozens of flights on Sunday; AFP counted some 90 cancelled flights on the airport website, mainly to European cities including Paris, Rome and Dublin.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that France, Germany and the United Kingdom, known as the E3, and Middle Eastern foreign ministers must examine the root causes of military conflict in the region, according to the Middle East Eye. He condemned what he called the E3’s double standards over their inaction in the face of US and Israeli military aggression against Iran, their comprehensive support for Israel and their destructive approach to Iran’s nuclear issue.

Some 421,000 internal AfD emails are available for download on a website, a set dating from this autumn back to 2014 and including messages attributed to party leader Alice Weidel, deputy leader Beatrix von Storch and former AfD chairs Jörg Meuthen and Alexander Gauland. The AfD told taz there had been a “hacker attack” in September 2026 on a hosting provider used by the party, in which “parts of a few” mailboxes were copied illegally.

France and the United Arab Emirates have revived plans to jointly develop an upgraded Rafale fighter jet after talks stumbled earlier this year, officials said, according to the Hindustan Times. The project, for which France’s 2027 draft budget earmarks €3 billion ($3.36 billion), has returned to the top of the agenda after the joint plan by France and Germany for a next-generation fighter aircraft collapsed, according to Reuters, in a text republished by Euronext. The UAE is France’s biggest customer of the Rafale warplane, built by Dassault Aviation.

Germany's federal prosecutors confirmed on Thursday the arrest of a Ukrainian man identified as Vadym Y. in the state of Brandenburg, 85 km west of Berlin, on suspicion of spying for Russia. According to DW World, the suspect allegedly used his connections to European defense firms to gather information, which he passed on to a Russian intelligence agency.

The spread between French and German 10-year yields is the highest since the closing levels of January 2012, when the eurozone was in the midst of a credit crisis that required interventions by the European Central Bank, according to Le Monde. The yield on France's 10-year OAT government bond rose to 4.94% on Tuesday, more than 150 basis points above the comparable German government bond, considered the European benchmark of creditworthiness. The Guardian puts the spread at 143.6bps, on track for its highest closing level since early 2012, amid a wave of street protests in France.

A Hamburg court found two men guilty of plotting to kill two leaders of Jewish organizations at Tehran’s behest and, after that, Iran summoned Germany’s ambassador, Axel Dittmann, according to Al Jazeera. The Dane, partially identified as Ali Hassan S, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years; the Afghan recruited as his accomplice, for four-and-a-half years. Tehran rejects the accusations as “baseless political claims” and says that attempting to give them a judicial face undermines the standing of the German judiciary itself.

Iran summoned German Ambassador Axel Dittmann to the Foreign Ministry on Monday in protest over repeated allegations by German officials that Tehran considers baseless. On the same day, Germany’s Foreign Ministry summoned Iran’s ambassador over allegations of an attempted attack against a leader of one of the country’s Jewish communities, according to Mehr News.

Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens made commitments to Israel a condition for coalition talks with the left-wing party Die Linke to form Berlin’s next government, according to Middle East Eye. The document demanded of Die Linke declared “Israel’s right to exist” non-negotiable and rejected general boycotts against Israel.

A Ukrainian man accused of helping to mastermind the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines went on trial for war crimes in Germany on Wednesday, with his defence calling for the case to be dismissed, according to the South China Morning Post. The first hearing took place at the Higher Regional Court in Hamburg, according to TASS. The German Federal Prosecutor's Office says the suspect and his accomplices, also service members, acted on orders from Ukrainian government agencies.

The Russian agency TASS, citing German investigative journalist Oliver Schrom, said the United States (US) Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was aware of the plan to sabotage the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines and had nothing against it at the operational level, and that the organizers turned to their American contacts when they decided to blow up the pipelines, according to TASS.

Germany put a Ukrainian on trial, accused of blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, according to BBC News. The defendant is a 50-year-old Ukrainian identified as Serhii K. by the German federal prosecutor’s office and suspected of being one of the main organizers of the operation, according to Le Monde. His full name, Serhii Kuznietsov, was revealed during his extradition from Italy.

Nuremberg airport in Germany briefly suspended flights over an “aviation emergency”, according to The New York Times. Fighter jets were scrambled to escort a flight from Corfu, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Poland says two Turkish citizens were arrested in Germany on suspicion of setting fire to a Starlink station in Poland. According to DW, the two Turks were detained by German police at the request of Polish services, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the fire an act of “hybrid warfare.” Special Services Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Poland had “absolutely no doubt” that Russian services were behind the fire last month at the station in Wola Krobowska, and the pair await transfer to Poland under a European Arrest Warrant.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Monday that the country faces a “shadow war” more far-reaching than the Cold War, according to Reuters, in a text republished by The Straits Times. The shadow war’s objective extends far beyond anything seen during the Cold War, he said. The president of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV), Sinan Selen, said Russia employs virtually every tool in its hybrid operations, from disinformation campaigns and information manipulation to sabotage and assassination plots prepared in Germany.

Two German opposition parties, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the BSW (Bündnis Soziale Gerechtigkeit und Wirtschaftliche Vernunft), called for restoring economic ties with Russia, following the example of US President Donald Trump’s diesel deal with Moscow, challenging Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s sanctions policy, according to RT. The joint resolution is scheduled for a vote in the Saxony-Anhalt parliament in Magdeburg on October 14. The AfD and the BSW hold a combined majority following September’s regional elections, although the state legislature has no authority to lift federal or EU sanctions against Russia.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) won the speaker post in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, the first far-right party to take the role since World War II, according to AFP. The party took nearly 44 percent of the vote in the state last month, and its candidate, Tobias Rausch, won 48 votes, with 29 against and five abstentions.

Only 41.7 billion euros of the 100 billion euros in support reported by Berlin actually went to Ukraine, while 35.9 billion was spent in Germany and another 22 billion consists of future military commitments, according to the Kiel Institute.

Germany has announced a new round of military aid for Ukraine valued at approximately €1 billion, to include turbojet-powered drone interceptors, standoff weapons and space-based technology, according to Breaking Defense. The package includes several tens of thousands of Quantum Systems interceptor drones, to be produced in Ukraine and deployed against Russia's intensifying drone campaign. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed Germany's new aid package is worth more than €1.3 billion, including funding for interceptors against turbojet Shaheds, according to UkraineToday.

Iranian intelligence services are targeting US military bases in Germany, including Ramstein and Spangdahlem, according to German weekly WirtschaftsWoche, cited by The Jerusalem Post. Israel reportedly warned US and German partners three weeks ago of a potential threat, with concern focused on bases supporting operations linked to the conflict with Iran.

Russian and US officials, including Kirill Dmitriev and Jared Kushner, held talks about bringing an American investor into the Nord Stream pipelines, according to Reuters, in a text republished by the Jerusalem Post. A White House official said Russia would have to negotiate any deals with the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the Treasury — and that they must benefit American taxpayers and companies. Germany’s Economy and Energy Ministry said any reopening would require government approval — and that it is not desired.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said continued dialogue and cooperation with neighbours is Iran’s chosen path toward a safer and more stable region, according to Mehr News. The two sides reviewed relations between Tehran and Yerevan and ways to deepen cooperation in economy, trade, transport and energy, according to Mehr News. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman received Germany’s new envoy in Tehran on Tuesday and described the conversation as frank and useful, according to Mehr News.

Germany received 12,102 applications for conscientious objection to military service between January and the end of August 2026, more than triple the 3,879 applications filed throughout 2025, according to the Funke and RND media groups. In July and August alone, more than 6,200 applications arrived, above the 5,862 filed in the first half of the year, the Berliner Morgenpost reported.

Germany's federal prosecutor's office said that former BND president August Hanning was arrested on Tuesday on espionage allegations, according to The Guardian. Hanning served as president of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) from December 1998 to November 2005. A former aide, identified only as Manfred D., was also arrested the same day. According to Deutsche Welle, current findings suggest that Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, many of them containing classified information.

State lawmakers in Saxony-Anhalt are voting to elect Germany’s first far-right statehouse speaker since 1945, according to The New York Times. The 83-seat legislature elects the speaker, a post that traditionally goes to the largest party, and the AfD won its best regional result and is in a strong position to form Germany’s first far-right regional government since World War II, according to The Hindu.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Germany will provide another aid package worth more than 1.3 billion euros, including weapons and support for the energy sector, after his meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Kiev, according to TASS. The amount includes 1 billion euros for interceptor drones and long-range weapons production and 350 million euros for energy, according to German government sources cited by DPA.

Russia again struck Kyiv with drones, hitting the North Bridge over the Dnieper during German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's surprise visit, according to the BBC. Merz arrived in Kyiv unannounced with the economy minister and defense and energy executives, pledging long-range weapons and 1,000 specialized interceptors, according to the Kyiv Post. He warned that Russia's war machine will turn against NATO if it is not stopped. The Ukrainian capital is under increasing missile and drone attacks on infrastructure, including the energy sector vital for electricity and heating before winter, according to France24.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kyiv on Sunday, October 4, for talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the Kyiv Post. Merz said he traveled to Ukraine because the country needs support and that, if Russia is not stopped, its war machine will sooner or later turn against the West. He was joined by Economy Minister Katherina Reiche and executives from the defense and energy sectors, France 24 reported.

A survey by the INSA institute for the Bild newspaper put Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) at 18 percent, its worst postwar result in Germany, according to RT. The right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) stood at 30 percent, its best result since the party’s founding in 2013, in the same poll of 1,202 eligible voters conducted between September 28 and October 2.

On German Unity Day, thousands of people took part in demonstrations in Berlin and Stuttgart against the potential return of military conscription and Germany’s rearmament, according to TASS. Police estimated around 5,800 people in the German capital, while organisers say more than 20,000 took part in Berlin and about 15,000 in Stuttgart, according to the Berliner Zeitung. Participants called for the lifting of all sanctions and a halt to arms shipments, including to Ukraine, according to TASS.

The Trump administration told Germany and France to draw down emergency diesel inventories or face a potential US ban on exports of the fuel, according to Reuters, citing three people close to the discussions. The threat to ban diesel exports set off global alarms over prices and supply, according to The New York Times.

The Trump administration has told Germany and France to draw down emergency diesel inventories to help ease global fuel prices or face a potential US diesel export ban, according to Reuters. The request was reported by three people close to the discussions.

The Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, plans to allocate nearly €3.4 billion for the purchase of American Typhon Mid-Range Capability (MRC) systems equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles with a range of up to 1,600 km, according to RT. At the beginning of September, the German Navy conducted its first test launches of Israeli LORA (Long Range Attack) ballistic missiles from an F125-class frigate, according to the same report.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the UN amid worsening ties and fresh security tensions, according to DW. Lavrov made clear that Russia will veto any attempt by Germany and Japan to obtain permanent seats on the Security Council, according to AP.

The meeting between the German and Russian foreign ministers on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly is believed to be the first of its kind since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to PBS. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called on Russia to abandon its “dangerous path of escalation” with Germany, Europe and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the talks with Sergei Lavrov. After the meeting, Lavrov said that “nothing new came from” the conversation.

Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev said Russia and Germany could jointly restart the Nord Stream gas pipeline, sabotaged four years ago, according to TASS, citing his post on X. Dmitriev was commenting on a proposal by Tino Chrupalla, co-chairman of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), to conduct an international probe into the sabotage and insist that the two pipelines be repaired and reopened.

More than 40,000 students took to the streets of Berlin against Germany’s proposed military service plans, some of them shredding call-up questionnaires. In more than 100 cities, the protests drew more than 45,000 students, after early call-ups for mandatory medical examinations. According to Germany’s Defence Ministry, about 1,000 young men who said they had no interest in serving have already completed the mandatory examinations since July.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul met on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, the first meeting between the two countries’ top diplomats since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to Anadolu Agency. The meeting took place at Germany’s request, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Around 45,000 students protested in some 100 German cities against the military service reform on Friday, September 25, 2026, according to RT. The Military Service Modernization Act, in force since January, requires 18-year-old men to complete a questionnaire on their willingness and suitability for military service. The site Time News also reported more than 45,000 students walking out of classrooms in over 100 cities.

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) suffered very poor results in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, plunging the Merz government into crisis. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) took 38.2% in the rural northeastern state and 16.3% in the capital, where the far-left Die Linke came first with 25.7%. Merz conceded the night spelled a disaster for the political centre and promised to push ahead with his federal agenda.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in New York on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), according to IRNA. Iran’s state news agency says Araghchi has held a series of bilaterals with counterparts on the session’s sidelines.

A United States Air Force F-16 crashed on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, near Spangdahlem Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany, and the pilot ejected before impact, according to the base’s statement carried by the Associated Press and Deutsche Welle. The aircraft, an F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 52nd Fighter Wing, went down at about 2:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. UTC-4), and the cause is under investigation. “The pilot ejected safely and is receiving medical care,” the base said. The Eifel district of Bitburg-Prüm said one person was injured and sent emergency crews to the site. Germany’s air traffic control authority said four F-16s were taking part in a training exercise and that one of the two returning to the base crashed on approach, according to GV Wire; the others landed at Ramstein Air Base, according to India Today. Spangdahlem is home to an F-16 squadron of about 20 aircraft. The crash comes five days after another F-16, from the Texas Air National Guard, went down in Michigan on September 17, 2026, during a training mission, according to Quartz.

German investigators found a suspicious substance that may be explosive a few metres from where parts of a drone were discovered near the Wunstorf military airfield in Lower Saxony, according to reporting by NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung published by tagesschau on Tuesday, September 22, 2026. The drone, broken into several pieces, was found by a farmer about a week earlier roughly a kilometre from the base where Germany’s fleet of A400M transport aircraft is stationed, and at least one component was 3D-printed. Investigators are working on the assumption that the drone also carried explosives, but forensic analysis of the substance is not complete. The federal prosecutor’s office (Generalbundesanwalt) and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) are examining whether there is a link to the foiled attack with explosive-laden drones at Leipzig/Halle airport in early August 2026, which the German government blames on Russia and Moscow denies. Investigators believe the drone may have been at the site for up to two years, and the case was discussed at the weekly intelligence meeting at the federal chancellery.