The incursion is part of a string of drone sightings over sensitive military and defence production sites across Europe in recent months
French navy troops opened fire on unidentified drones over a military site housing nuclear submarines in the latest in a series of drone incursions into European airspace.
According to French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), five drones were detected on Thursday night over the submarine base of Île Longue in Brittany, western France.
It is a strategic military site and home to nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines – a key part of France’s nuclear deterrent.
Navy troops in charge of protecting the base opened fire, AFP reported. It was unclear whether the drones were shot down.
The incursion is part of a string of drone sightings over sensitive military and defence production sites in Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Norway in recent months.
French authorities have not yet commented on the suspected origin of the drone incident on Thursday.
It comes amid reports that four “military-style” drones breached no-fly zones and flew towards the flight path Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s plane as he landed in Dublin on Monday.
It is not yet known who is behind the drone incursions in both incidents.
A UK intelligence source tackling the threat from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), otherwise known as drones, said the drones impacting Zelenskyy’s plane were most likely launched from cargo ships in the Irish sea.
Incursions across Europe
Drones have become a regular feature of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression against the West.
Recent incursions over a Nato training base in eastern Belgium and manufacturing facilities in Évegnée Fort, owned by defence contractor Thales, are thought to have been launched from Russian-linked cargo ships in the North Sea, The i Paper reported earlier this month.
The revelations show why concerns are growing within Nato and Europe over the way Putin is becoming emboldened in his aggression against the continent.
In Germany, drone activity has expanded around training sites, energy assets, and bases such as Ramstein, while drones were reported over the Mourmelon-le-Grand base in France where Ukrainian troops are being trained.
The Russian vessel Yantar received recent confrontation with British forces after it was suspected of deploying drones near subsea communication cables linking Ireland and the UK.
Most of the incidents have not been attributed to state actors, with many of the pilots still unkown, but European leaders have been vocal in their suspicion of Moscow.
After a number of suspicious UAVs were recorded over strategic facilities in the northern German region of Schleswig-Holstein in October, the country’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, “we suspect that Russia is behind most of these drone flights”.
In February, The i Paper added weight to those concerns when it revealed that three people with links to Russian military and intelligence sites travelled to stay near top-secret UK air bases where suspicious drones were sighted, with one of the individuals just metres from the perimeter of RAF Mildenhall on a day when drones were flown over.
A useful tool of Kremlin aggression
Drone incursions offer a high level of irritation for states, often grounding flights, disturbing military training, and causing panic amongst the general public.
They are seen as an effective tool of hybrid warfare – acts of aggression that don’t meet the criteria of out-and-out warfare – because they are hard to attribute and cheaply done.
Martin Melia, a former British Army Lieutenant Colonel with a background in Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance operations previously told this paper that drone incursions allow aggressors to “stand off” from the target country “beyond the visual line of sight” and cause havoc – providing the pilot, and the state behind them with a degree of deniability.
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He said this leads to a “disproportionate effect” when drones are deployed to disrupt military sites, airports, and critical national infrastructure “just by being in the airspace”, making it an “effective form of sabotage and influence activity.”
Recent incursions in France, Germany and Norway have been linked to “shadow fleet” ships – vessels that obfuscate their ownership to bypass regulations. The ships, run by the Kremlin, are believed to be offering launch pads for suspicious drone flights.
Reports of French troops opening fire on drones comes after UK troops were given powers to fire at suspect drones hovering over sensitive sites in October.
