Russian reconnaissance drone monitored France’s aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle

In late February 2026, Swedish armed forces detected and electronically neutralised a drone in the Øresund Strait near Malmö, where the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle (R91) was making a port stopover. According to reporting by Euronews and USNI News, a Swedish navy vessel patrolling in the carrier's vicinity spotted the unmanned aircraft, then activated an electronic jamming system to disrupt its navigation and sever the link with its operator. Contact with the drone was subsequently lost, and it was not established whether it crashed at sea or returned to its point of origin.

French and Swedish officials placed the drone in close proximity to the carrier. A French military spokesperson said the drone was detected roughly 10 kilometres from the Charles de Gaulle, while Euronews cited a distance of around 13 kilometres. Swedish authorities reported that a Russian military vessel was in the immediate vicinity at the time of the incident; several outlets identified the ship as the Russian reconnaissance vessel Zhigulevsk, associated with the Baltic Fleet, which afterwards continued toward the Baltic Sea. Danish authorities were notified given the strait's proximity to Denmark.

French armed forces said the episode had no operational impact on the carrier and pointed to the response as evidence of close cooperation between French and Swedish forces. Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson characterised the drone as likely of Russian origin. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot described the episode as a "ridiculous provocation," while Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed the allegation as "absurd."

The incident fits a recurring pattern of suspected Russian surveillance and harassment of NATO and allied naval assets in the Baltic and Øresund approaches, often staged from intelligence-gathering vessels operating near territorial waters. Swedish attribution to Russia remains an official assessment rather than a proven, formally adjudicated finding, and Moscow has denied involvement. The use of shipborne drones against a high-value carrier underscores the persistent threat to Western maritime assets and the value of layered electronic-warfare defences, which here neutralised the aircraft without operational disruption.