A coordinated Russian drone surveillance campaign targeted key military and nuclear locations across more than a dozen European countries between August 2024 and February 2026, according to a report published on July 2, 2026, by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
The Kremlin utilized its shadow fleet of sanctioned oil tankers to launch the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
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The investigation tracked 144 incidents of complex reconnaissance drones flying over critical civilian infrastructure, airports, and military bases.
Among the targeted areas were RAF Lakenheath in the UK, France's Île Longue nuclear submarine base, and airbases storing US nuclear weapons in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Western militaries failed to capture or shoot down any of the intruding aircraft during the 15-month operation.
The report indicated that the UAVs exploited significant gaps in NATO air defenses, which are primarily structured to counter conventional military threats rather than low-flying, low-cost drones.
Analysts linked specific drone incursions to nearby Russian shadow fleet vessels operating with their transponder tracking devices deactivated.
In one instance, a sanctioned tanker named the Hav Dolphin was identified as the likely source of drones that monitored RAF Lakenheath in November 2024 and submarine bases in Germany and France later in 2025.
The IISS report noted that the mass expulsion of Russian intelligence officers from European capitals following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine had severely degraded the Kremlin's conventional spy network, prompting the shift to maritime-launched drone surveillance.
