Defense entities also faced “sabotage actions and damages” generally committed around the sites.
( AFP / LUDOVIC MARIN )
Drone flyovers, image captures, theft of equipment or raw materials… Intrusions and attempted intrusions into companies or laboratories in the defense sector in France increased in 2025, emphasized the DRSD, the intelligence service responsible for protecting them, on Tuesday, May 12.
“The year 2025 was marked by an increase in ‘physical’ attacks or attempted attacks on entities monitored by the DRSD,” which represented 24% of the total attacks in 2025, compared to 18% in 2024 and 2023, wrote the Directorate of Intelligence and Security of Defense in a public note.
“Entities in the BITD (industrial and technological defense base) or defense research have thus been the targets of numerous intrusion attempts within their industrial facilities or laboratories. These intrusions sometimes resulted in theft of equipment (computers, machine tools, etc.) and essential raw materials for production,” added the intelligence service.
It also warns of “a considerable increase in the reconnaissance aimed at sensitive installations. The end of 2025 saw a sharp increase in drone flyovers reported around defense-related facilities.”
Acts of Sabotage
Flyovers of prohibited sites or critical infrastructure are a growing threat, and reports have multiplied across Europe, sometimes causing major disruptions such as commercial flight suspensions at European airports in 2025.
In France, the DRSD believes that attributing them to “foreign powers” is “complex,” while many observers note that they may be part of Russia’s hybrid warfare strategy, involving sabotage actions or interference on European territory.
Furthermore, Defense entities have been faced with “sabotage actions and damages (fires in energy infrastructures and production chains, graffiti, paint throws, etc.) mostly committed around the sites.”
This type of action continued into 2026, with recently, a series of coordinated fires in Cher targeting electric installations supplying armament factories.
Some of these actions may be related to the Middle East, as “the service notes the continuation of claims actions carried out by certain ultra-left movements towards BITD companies, in connection with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
