The small drone made a total of three flights over the Sainte-Assise command and control centre on Saturday in yet another occurrence in a series of similar drones incidents in France in recent weeks, Le Parisien reported.
The sensitive facility, guarded day and night, features very high antennas – some over 200 meters high – and a powerful transmitter that ensures communication with French submarines at sea.
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Police said on Sunday, that only two of the drone’s flights were recorded, prompting a police helicopter dispatch which failed to intercept the drone – or what may have been two lookalike drones.
The triangular grey machine, about a meter and a half wide, was first spotted above the D 346 highway near Cesson-la-Foret flying towards the base. Then, the drone “flew over the center of Sainte-Assise three times,” the anonymous Le Parisien source said.
Police reinforcements were called in after the first reports of a suspicious UAV, but failed to intercept the same or a “similar” drone when it returned for another flyover. An official at local police headquarters told the French publication that, this was “the first time” they had faced “this type of situation.”
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Yet another source told Le Parisien that similar drone incidents had previously happened at the Sainte-Assise facility, claiming that one of the devices even crashed at the site.
Since last October at least 60 drone overflights have been recorded over sensitive sites in France such as nuclear power plants, or the city of Paris, according to the Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve.
In January, suspicious drones had reportedly been detected several times near the military site of de l'Île Longue, home port of four nuclear submarines. The aviation police (GTA) is now responsible for the investigation of the latest incident.
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