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France Moves to Shield Critical Defense Sites From Russian Drone and Cyberattacks
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France is preparing nationwide defenses against an intensifying campaign of Russian hybrid attacks, with its intelligence services bracing for the possibility of a large-scale assault.
France Télévisions reported on September 19 that internal planning now points to autumn 2027 as an accelerated scenario, brought forward from an earlier horizon of 2030.
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The threat has sharpened in recent months, according to France Télévisions, taking the form of cyberattacks against the French military and government ministries. Fabricated videos generated by artificial intelligence have also targeted candidates ahead of the presidential race, part of a wider pattern of operations striking several European countries.
In an unprecedented step, the government convened all of France's prefects in an emergency session, France Télévisions reported. Beginning next week, each department is to stand up a security and defense staff drawing together local police and military commanders, education officials, business leaders, and emergency responders.
President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged on September 18 that the security climate had shifted and that France, like its European partners, was readying itself. "I asked the government to prepare a plan to protect our critical infrastructure," Macron stated. The plan extends to the most sensitive sites of France's defense industrial and technological base, guarding against both drone and cyberattacks.
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According to a confidential note reviewed by France Télévisions, the infrastructure judged at risk includes power plants and electrical grids, rail networks, telecommunications, and drinking-water distribution. Macron summoned the country's presidential candidates to the Élysée Palace's new high-security crisis room on September 18 to alert them to the danger.
France's principal airfields are already prepared against drone incursions, but the exposure runs wider, according to retired Air Force General Patrick Dutartre. "One can imagine that all sensitive sites associated with defense could be targeted," Dutartre noted.
The Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, rejected the idea that Moscow menaces Europe. "Some European leaders openly declare that they are preparing for war against Russia," Putin claimed, arguing they were merely trying to rescue "plummeting popularity ratings."
France Télévisions reported that the country's intelligence services are readying for a possible wave of massive Russian attacks, with the projected timeline steadily contracting. While planners once looked toward 2030, the reporting indicated that autumn 2027 is now the reference point.
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The interference shadowing the presidential race is not new. Paris prosecutors opened an investigation in August 2026 into a campaign that circulated fabricated videos aimed at former Prime Ministers Édouard Philippe and Gabriel Attal.
The falsified clips carried the branding of established French news outlets and were tied to the Russia-linked networks Storm-1516 and Matriochka. The physical threat has been just as concrete: in early August, an explosive-laden drone was discovered beside a Ukrainian Antonov cargo plane at Germany's Leipzig airport, a plot US intelligence has linked to Russian services.
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