According to reports, on February 25, Swedish forces blocked a suspected Russian drone as it approached a French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier while docked in Malmö during major NATO exercises.
The warship Charles de Gaulle, the flagship of the French Navy, visited the southern Swedish port as part of the mission LA FAYETTE 26.
The exercises brought NATO naval forces to the Baltic Sea region at a time of rising tensions with Moscow.
Rafale M (Navy) fighter jets parked on the flight deck with the conning tower in the background as the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle. (Johan NILSSON/TT NEWS AGENCY/AFP via Getty Images)
The drone security breach occurred while the airline was in port, underscoring growing concerns about Russia-linked drone activity near critical Western military assets, according to the report. SVT.
The Swedish broadcaster reported that the drone was launched from a nearby Russian ship and moved towards the aircraft carrier before being spotted by Swedish forces.
‘THEY SPYED’: SULLIVAN SOUNDS ALARM OVER JOINT RUSSIA-CHINA MOVES IN US ARCTIC ZONE
Putin is testing NATO’s limits with plane raids, allied states say. (Ramil Sitdikov/Pool/Reuters)
A Swedish Navy ship found the suspected drone during ongoing sea patrols in the Øresund Strait.
In response, Swedish agents activated electronic countermeasures, disrupting the aircraft’s control systems.
“A Swedish Navy ship observed a suspected drone during ongoing sea patrols in the Sound,” the Swedish Armed Forces said in a statement, SVT reported.
“In connection with the observation, the Swedish Armed Forces took countermeasures to disrupt the suspected drone. Contact with the drone was subsequently lost,” the statement said.
‘THEY SPYED’: SULLIVAN SOUNDS ALARM OVER JOINT RUSSIA-CHINA MOVES IN US ARCTIC ZONE
One of the Swedish Air Force’s three JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets takes off from the Blekinge Wing F17, based in Kallinge, southern Sweden, to a base in Sardinia on Saturday, April 2, 2011, to take part in the NATO-led operation in Libya. Now that Sweden is joining NATO, the country is saying goodbye to more than two centuries of neutrality. (AP Photo/Scanpix/Patric Soderstrom, file)
It remains unclear whether the drone returned to the Russian ship or fell into the sea after becoming stuck.
Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson told SVT on Thursday that the drone “probably came from Russia, as there was a Russian military ship in the immediate vicinity at the time of the incident,” according to Le Monde.
“Yesterday, a drone was blocked by a Swedish system about seven nautical miles from the Charles de Gaulle. The Swedish system worked perfectly and this did not disrupt the operations on board,” French General Staff spokesman Colonel Guillaume Vernet said.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The incident came just hours after Poland sent fighter jets overnight in response to a new wave of Russian attacks on Ukraine, increasing tensions between Moscow and NATO, according to reports reports.
It also follows warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin said his “adversaries know how things can end” if they resort to a “nuclear” response.
Related article
