Sixteen NATO allies report drone incursions as alliance expands defenses

Germany blames Russia for August Leipzig airport drones

Sixteen NATO member states have reported drone incursions into their airspace or have recovered drone remnants on their territory over the past two years, with the pace and proportion of incidents increasing in recent months as the alliance works to expand its counterdrone capabilities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

NATO members describe the incidents as falling below the threshold for a collective military response, but the pattern has been characterized by alliance officials and analysts as gray-zone attacks, which the Kremlin denies. Almost every week this summer brought new reports of drone incursions over the alliance’s eastern frontier, with NATO jets repeatedly mobilized to intercept them.

Germany blamed Russia for explosive drones found in August at Leipzig airport, a supply line for Ukraine. The same month, Romania scrambled jets to destroy a naval drone sailing close to its gas platform in the Black Sea.

“We do not consider ourselves at war, but we are the daily target of hybrid warfare,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said this month.

The incursions fall into two main categories, the Journal reported: drones loitering over critical infrastructure deep within Europe, and military-grade unmanned aerial vehicles that have crossed the border into NATO airspace. A third group — Ukrainian drones misdirected by Russian electronic warfare — accounts for some of the sightings, the Journal said.

Determining where the drones originate, what type they are and what their operators intend is difficult, according to analysts cited by the Journal. Witnesses and photographs describe a mix of fixed-wing surveillance craft and quadcopters, including one reported case of a larger fixed-wing “mother ship” launching smaller drones.

Analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies told the Journal that Russia’s Merlin-VR, designed for prolonged monitoring of infrastructure, is likely involved in what IISS analysts characterized as gray zone combat. Drones capable of vertical takeoff and landing can be launched from ships with minimal deck space, making them potentially suitable for covert operations from Russia’s shadow fleet, IISS analysts said.

Two drone types have been publicly identified in connection with NATO-side incidents. The Romanian government said the one-way attack drone Geran-2 struck a high-rise building in the town of Galați in May. The Polish military identified the reconnaissance drone Gerbera in September 2025 after a nighttime swarm of Russian drones crossed Polish airspace. Data from ACLED, an independent organization that tracks conflicts worldwide, show a proliferation of incursions in Europe over the past year as Russia has stalled on the battlefield in Ukraine, the Journal reported. The European Council on Foreign Relations compiled the underlying incursion mapping.

NATO is racing to adopt new technologies that can detect drones from a distance and destroy them without wasting expensive weaponry. Until those capabilities mature, fighter jets remain the alliance’s main high-speed response to drones entering European airspace. The F-16 and F-35 are NATO’s principal interceptor aircraft; Eurofighter Typhoons have also been operating in antidrone missions. Fighter pilots typically fire guided rockets or aircraft cannons to shoot down drones, but air-to-air missiles are an expensive option against low-cost targets. Belgium is equipping its F-16s with specialized Thales rocket pods to give the aircraft a cheaper, more effective option against large drone formations.

Alliance members are also working to raise the cost for Russia of such attacks by increasing their support for Ukraine. Many of the front-line NATO states are developing counterdrone capabilities, though the defenses are not uniform across the alliance.

The European Union’s planned “drone shield” — a proposed multilayered network of sensors, electronic warfare systems and interceptor drones designed to protect the bloc’s eastern border — is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2027, with basic radar and infrastructure deployed along the eastern borders by the end of this year, according to the European Parliament.