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Source: https://www.jpost.com/international/internationalrussia-ukraine-war/article-903260
Europe Turns to Israeli Air Defenses amid Rising Russian Drone Incursions
(Jerusalem Post) Udi Etzion - Foreign drones and unmanned aerial vehicles breached European airspace 144 times between August 2024 and February 2026, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. The breaches resulted in the violation of air sovereignty of 12 countries, repeatedly forcing the closure of major airports, disrupting military activity, and flying over sensitive military installations. The overwhelming majority of the incidents involved Russian platforms launched from ships. Their mission was to expose response times, radar frequencies, and interception procedures used by Europe's air defense network. The psychological impact of the repeated incursions was considered significant. The operations were intended to undermine public confidence in governments' ability to provide security, reflecting a classic Russian psychological warfare strategy. Although attention has increasingly focused on shorter-range fiber-optic drones, such as those Hizbullah has launched against IDhttps://www.jpost.com/international/internationalrussia-ukraine-war/article-903260F troops in Lebanon, which are immune to satellite navigation jamming, military planners remain equally concerned by the growing number of unmanned systems that do rely on satellite navigation. Electronic interception could also provide an effective response against drone swarms that are already appearing in Ukraine and are expected to spread to other theaters.