Lauterbach That’s right, it maintained its course.
Presiding Judge What happened next?
Lauterbach I reported this to General Radtke. And I gave him the additional details.
Presiding Judge What details?
Lauterbach That we were dealing with a Lufthansa aircraft of the Airbus A320-100/200 type. That in addition to the terrorist there were 164 people on board. How many of those belonged to the crew. Its speed. Its estimated time of impact. Those sort of things. Details.
Presiding Judge And where had you got these details from?
Lauterbach From my colleagues in civil aviation security. There were 98 men, 62 women and two children. I had the passenger list in front of me. The youngest child was just four years old, a girl.
Presiding Judge Excuse me? I couldn’t hear you.
Lauterbach I said one of the children was just four years old.
Presiding Judge Yes, well. What orders did you receive from General Radtke?
Lauterbach It took about six minutes. In a case like this General Radtke has to call the Minister of Defence and inform him of the situation. At the same time he is in contact with the Military Supreme Commander. General Radtke made the Minister of Defence a proposaclass="underline" that is his duty. The Minister then decides whether he is going to follow this proposal. That is what’s written in the Aviation Security Law and in the official regulations.
Presiding Judge What did General Radtke propose?
Lauterbach For cases like this there’s a series of steps laid down in advance.
Presiding Judge Oh. And they are?
Lauterbach Step one: divert the plane. Step two: warning shots.
Presiding Judge That means?
Lauterbach The Minister orders the unit to fire warning shots.
Presiding Judge Can’t the pilots decide that for themselves?
Lauterbach To fire warning shots?
Presiding Judge Yes.
Lauterbach No, only the Minister is allowed to do that.
Presiding Judge Very well, then. Warning shots. Did you receive this order? That the pilots should now fire warning shots?
Lauterbach Yes.
Presiding Judge What happens there? These warning shots, I mean.
Lauterbach That’s going to get technical now, Your Honour.
Presiding Judge Explain anyway. We’ll do our best to follow.
Lauterbach The Eurofighter is equipped with a single-barrel gas-operated five-chamber revolver cannon made by Mauser. The weapon is mounted in the right wing. Its rate of fire is 1,700 rounds per minute, travelling at a velocity of 1,025 metres per second. Which means over four kilogrammes of ammunition is fired in 0.5 seconds. It has a range of around 1,600 metres. For airborne targets it is usually loaded with high explosive ammunition.
Presiding Judge Aha.
Lauterbach I passed the order on to the rapid reaction force. ‘Warning burst’, that’s what we call it. In military language, I mean.
Presiding Judge Who was it fired these shots?
Lauterbach Major Koch. He released a burst of fire from the on-board cannon. It’s a mixed load: tracers and conventional ammunition.
Presiding Judge Did you decide who would fire the shots?
Lauterbach No, the pilots decide that themselves. But it is customary for the senior officer to do so.
Presiding Judge The defendant, in other words.
Lauterbach That’s right.
Presiding Judge And what happened next? Would the captain of a civilian aircraft even notice the warning shots?
Lauterbach Of course. He can see the gun smoke and hear the shots. And he can see the path of the tracer bullets.
Presiding Judge Was there a reaction of any kind?
Lauterbach No. And if I may say so, warning shots like these are pretty damned impressive. It takes quite a lot not to react to them.
Presiding Judge I see. In your military experience are there any other ways of interrupting a flight?
Lauterbach You mean other than warning shots and diversion?
Presiding Judge Yes.
Lauterbach I’m afraid not.
Presiding Judge You’re afraid not.
Lauterbach Anyone else would say the same.
Presiding Judge What did you do next?
Lauterbach I reported back to General Radtke again.
Presiding Judge And then?
Lauterbach General Radtke took a couple of minutes to reply. During that time he had proposed to the Minister of Defence that the Lufthansa aircraft be shot down.
Presiding Judge And?
Lauterbach That is the final step. But the Minister of Defence rejected it.
Presiding Judge How do you know that?
Lauterbach The General told me.
Presiding Judge Did Radtke make any comment on the Minister’s decision?
Lauterbach What do you mean?
Presiding Judge Well, for example did he say, ‘Unfortunately he rejected it’? Or something like that?
Lauterbach No.
Presiding Judge Had you expected that to be the Minister’s decision?
Lauterbach Yes. We all know the views of the Federal Constitutional Court.
Presiding Judge You mean the ruling which declared part of the Aviation Security Law to be unconstitutional?
Lauterbach Yes. At the time everyone in the team had talked about it.
Presiding Judge Very well. You passed that decision on to the pilots.
Lauterbach What?
Presiding Judge That they weren’t allowed to shoot.
Lauterbach Yes, of course.
Presiding Judge And what happened then?
Lauterbach Nothing.
Presiding Judge Nothing? I don’t understand.
Lauterbach Well, we just stared at the screens, there was nothing else we could do. Everyone was hoping for a miracle, I was at any rate.
Presiding Judge Did you question the General’s order or did you simply pass it on to the rapid reaction force?
Lauterbach It’s not my job to question orders.
Presiding Judge So you passed on the instructions exactly as you received them?
Lauterbach Yes.
Presiding Judge I see. I am trying to imagine the situation. You are now looking at the screens and waiting. How long did that go on, approximately?
Lauterbach Twenty-eight minutes.
Presiding Judge That long?
Lauterbach Yes.
Presiding Judge So almost half an hour.
Lauterbach Yes.
Presiding Judge And then?
Lauterbach Major Koch –
Presiding Judge The defendant?
Lauterbach He asked twice whether he had understood everything correctly.