France, unarmed drones fly over base with nuclear submarines

French naval infantry fired last night at drones flying over the naval base in Ile Longue, Britain, which houses French nuclear submarines. This was reported by Afp. Five drones, the gendarmerie explained, flew over the submarine base of Ile Longue (Finistere) last night at around 7.30pm, which borders the port of Brest and hosts the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (Ssbn), one of the cornerstones of French nuclear deterrence. An anti-drone search operation was therefore launched and the marine infantry battalion, responsible for protecting the base, fired several shots at the aircraft, shooting them down.

The maritime prefecture initially specified that it was premature to correlate the episode - although very similar to other cases of hybrid warfare that have been recorded in recent months in Europe - with an action by Moscow. Later, interviewed by the newspaper Libération, the maritime prefect of the Atlantic, frigate captain Guillaume Le Rasle, explained that the five drones were small, ''unarmed'' models, ''out of a military context''. In another interview with BFMTV, one of the country's leading all-news networks, the prefect emphasised that ''the sensitive infrastructure of the base was not threatened''. For him, those responsible for the overflights ''had the will to intimidate the population''.

The French Minister of the Armed Forces, Catherine Vautrin, announced the opening of an investigation. According to her cabinet, Vautrin said that an 'investigation is underway' to shed full light on the affair. The Préfecture maritime de l'Atlantique points out that the investigation has been entrusted to the military prosecutor's office in Rennes. Among other things, investigators will have to try to determine the identity of those who piloted the five drones.

The Brest episode is not the only one that has alerted the law enforcement agencies of various European countries in recent days. In fact, the Irish police confirmed that an investigation into the detection of drones was launched when Volodymyr Zelensky's plane arrived on the island. On Monday, 3 December, unidentified drones were spotted over the skies of eastern Ireland near a point on the air route that was being followed by the aircraft on which the Ukrainian president, who was expected for an official visit to Dublin, was travelling. The leader of Kiev had never been in danger, although the suspicious presence of the drones had triggered alerts among local security forces.

Belgian and Polish precedents