French sailors have fired on unmanned aerial vehicles detected over a particularly important facility where nuclear submarines are based.
Source. This was reported by the Agence France-Presse news agency.
Five drones were detected over the Île Longue base in Brittany, western France, on Thursday evening, the gendarmerie told AFP. The submarines based there are armed with nuclear weapons and are a key element of France's nuclear deterrent. Navy personnel guarding the facility opened fire. There is no information on whether the drones were shot down.
The incident did not affect the operation of the base, and an investigation has been launched. Drones were already seen in the area in November, although not directly over the base, French media reported.
Unidentified drones have also appeared repeatedly in Denmark, Norway, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands in recent months, including over military facilities. At times, this has forced the authorities to suspend the operation of local airports.
European intelligence agencies consider these incidents to be part of the hybrid war waged by Russia, but so far it has not been possible to shoot down these devices to confirm their affiliation or to find out where they were launched.
Virtually no one has yet carried out an armed response due to uncertainty about which services and authorities should respond to such incidents. Only in late October did Dutch soldiers attack unidentified UAVs over a NATO air base where American nuclear warheads are stored. The drones flew away and could not be tracked.