French military sites were targeted

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Among the freight trains at Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin), there was a military convoy. Six Leclerc tanks were flown in on Tuesday 11 November at around 23.50. by unauthorized drones. The tanks returned from training in Switzerland. The drone was spotted by security guards. “The plane, without lighting, flew over a military convoy storage area and then disappeared in an unknown direction.”said the Mulhouse prosecutor’s office, Wednesday 12 November.

A few minutes earlier, still in Mulhouse, the same drone approached the police station at low altitude twice. Drivers and devices cannot be found.

Suspicious drones over sensitive infrastructure have been recorded in France: at a military base in late September on the Marne, and on Monday 10 November, around 7 p.m., over a weapons factory in Bergerac (Dordogne), a site that produces powder for bullets for French and European armies. In front of the deputies, an army general gave details. “I have information that makes me think it is a classic commercial drone. The investigation into this is ongoing.” said Gen. Marc Le Bouil, air defense commander.

Even more worrying, according to information from France Télévisions, the anti-drone jamming system is not working in Bergerac. The company and the prefecture would not comment.

For experts, this event is worrying. “We can have very precise optics with infrared or specific detection areas. So there are ways to find, or at least map, certain sensitive areas and extract information from those areas”explains Gaétan Powis, defense specialist at Air&Cosmos. In recent months, military bases and airports have also been visited by drones which are considered suspicious in several European countries.