Germany: the army carried out an exercise simulating a hijacked plane attack

The German government and army organized on Wednesday an exercise to simulate the response to an attack scenario involving a hijacked plane, similar to the attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States. The cabinet of Chancellor Friedrich Merz participated in the exercise, to achieve “real time” à une décision “in a critical situation” et “Potentially dangerous for public safety in Germany”declared government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius, in a press release.

Then the decision was put into practice by the Bundeswehr, the German army, and by German security services, he added. The exercise responded to a scenario called «Renegade» [«Renégat»]involving the hijacking of a civilian aircraft in airspace. This scenario recalls the attack of September 11, 2001, which left nearly 3,000 dead when attackers hijacked four airliners and rushed them into buildings in New York and Washington, and crashed another plane in Pennsylvania.

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In Wednesday’s exercise, a stolen civilian plane crossed Germany, flying from south to north, with the likely destination being a large-scale fictitious public event, according to government circles. By decision of the cabinet, two Eurofighter fighters were then actually sent on an alert mission and escorted the plane to an airfield in northern Germany, added the same source. The German government source said that“In light of the proliferation of hybrid threats, crisis response exercises are an integral part of national crisis preparedness”.