For twelve days in October, the French military rehearsed exactly one scenario in the roadstead of Toulon: how to protect France’s largest naval base. Somewhere in the middle of that rehearsal, someone else’s drones came to watch.

On Wednesday 21 October 2026 the Marine nationale confirmed that several unauthorised drones had been detected near and above military sites in the Toulon area during the joint exercise Typhon, which ran from 5 to 16 October. A judicial investigation has been opened. The French Navy’s Mediterranean command says no sensitive infrastructure was threatened.

According to ICI Provence, which broke the story, the overflights took place at night between 9 and 13 October and involved the Toulon naval base, the Direction générale de l’armement site in the city and the 54th Artillery Regiment at Hyères.

Drones over the Toulon naval base during Typhon

Typhon was no small drill. Led by Vice-Admiral Laurent Hermann, commander-in-chief for the Mediterranean and maritime prefect, it combined land, air and sea forces across Toulon and ten neighbouring communes, with military aircraft — drones included — flying as part of the scenario and activity peaking from 13 to 15 October.

That is what makes the episode so awkward. The intruders were not part of the exercise, the maritime prefecture told ICI Provence, and they flew precisely while defenders were looking up.

At each overflight, the planned security measures were triggered, including counter-drone systems, in coordination with the internal security forces, the Mediterranean command said in a statement reported by AFP. Asked for details, it declined to give the number of incidents, the type of aircraft involved or whether any had been brought down.

ICI Provence went further: despite a highly sophisticated electromagnetic jamming system, not a single drone was recovered, and neither their exact number nor their model could be established. One source told the station there were several each time, and that they were large machines rather than hobby quadcopters.

A prohibited sky over France’s first naval port

The Toulon naval base is the heart of the Marine nationale and the home port of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which, according to CNews, has been alongside since late August for a technical stop scheduled to run until early December. Shephard has reported that around 70% of French fleet assets are concentrated in Toulon.

The sky above it is closed. Prohibited zone LF-P 62 Toulon, created by an order of 20 September 2017, covers Toulon, La Seyne-sur-Mer, Ollioules, La Valette-du-Var and Le Pradet. According to AeroTime, it runs from the surface to flight level 195, about 19,500 ft (5,940 m), and is active 24 hours a day, with access only for military flights, emergency services and specific exemptions.

The French armed forces ministry reminds the public that unauthorised drone flights near or above military installations are prohibited and can lead to prosecution. ICI Provence reports that the case is being handled by military-affairs prosecutors in Marseille rather than the Toulon prosecutor, as first indicated.

franceinfo: unknown drones detected over the Toulon military base.

Part of a European pattern

Toulon is not the first French naval site to be overflown. In early December 2025, drones were reported over Île Longue in Brittany, home of France’s ballistic-missile submarines, and the naval riflemen guarding the base opened fire with anti-drone weapons. In March 2026, AeroTime recalls, a drone was detected near the Toulon base itself; that time, the operator was detained.

Across Europe, the pattern has become familiar. Drone sightings shut Copenhagen Airport for around four hours on 22–23 September 2025, with Aalborg disrupted the following day. Munich Airport suspended flights several times in early October 2025, and Belgium recorded ten drone-related disruptions at its airports between 2 and 9 November 2025, bringing Brussels Airport to a standstill.

No attribution has been made for Toulon. French authorities often link such incidents to “hybrid” activity by foreign states, notably Russia, but the investigation has named no one. CNews notes that in September, Emmanuel Macron asked the government to prepare a plan to protect critical infrastructure, including against drones.

The counter-drone problem in plain sight

The uncomfortable lesson is technical. Detecting a drone is now routine; stopping it, identifying it and catching its operator is not. Jammers can push a drone away or cut its link, but a jammed drone that flies home leaves no evidence on the quay.

For a navy that had just spent twelve days practising the defence of its own harbour, the result is a free, if unwelcome, live exercise. The real question for the investigators is the one every European air force is asking: who was flying, and what did they want to see?

Sources: ICI Provence, CNews / AFP, L'Express, AeroTime, Préfecture maritime de la Méditerranée, Euronews, Shephard, franceinfo