German Police Investigate Suspected Political Arson After Fire at New Defence Industry Facility

A fire at a German airport being transformed to integrate with a nearby tank factory and to establish a new drone testing facility is being investigated as a potential attack.

Investigation of a potential arson at Kassel Airport in North Hesse, single strip regional airport which earlier this year was selected for a major investment by German defence giant Rheinmetall, has been passed to specialist officers with Germany’s State Security Criminal Investigation Department. A blaze at the construction site at the airport saw three construction vehicles burnt out, with other adjacent equipment damaged.

Local media outlet Hessenschau states police did not comment on how extensive the further damage was. Initial investigations at the site suggest the fire was deliberately set.

Because of the link between the construction site and Rheinmetall, police are treating it as potentially politically motivated, but have not yet identified any suspects.

The fire follows by just two months a joint declaration between Rheinmetall and the local Hesse government that the defence contractor had selected Kassel Airport for a new 30,000 square meter (320,000 ft²) facility to enable the company’s export of “tactical military vehicles. The airport is close to Kassel’s Rheinmetall factory, a major site for the company which employs around 2,000 people in its Vehicle Systems division manufacturing “state-of-the-art tactical wheeled and tracked vehicles”.

As well as developing the airport to enable export flights for Rheinmetall armoured vehicles, the company is also developing a drone research facility at the location, turning it into a “military hub” capable of hosting “Bundeswehr training flights and for research into and testing of new drone technologies”.

The alleged attack is just the latest incident in a years-long series of low-intensity attacks on European defence sites, which security leaders have taken to calling ‘hybrid warfare’. Claimed culprits for these attacks which have included arson, simple machinery sabotage, and even drinking water tampering include Russia, which is said to be paying petty criminals in crypto-currency to engage in small acts against defence infrastructure, Iran’s intelligence services, and pro-Palestine activists.

Rheinmetall sites have been targeted by left-wing pro-Palestine activists already this year because protesters believe the company’s products are used by the Israeli armed forces in pursuit of an alleged genocide. In September, hard-left direct action group the “Disarm Rheinmetall” alliance published a call-to-arms and blocked railway lines leading from a Rheinmetall factory to the Hamburg city docks to prevent exports by sea.