{"id":1420,"date":"2025-02-08T09:22:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T09:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=1420"},"modified":"2025-01-06T09:30:25","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T09:30:25","slug":"drones-exploding-parcels-and-sabotage-how-hybrid-tactics-target-the-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=1420","title":{"rendered":"Drones, Exploding Parcels and Sabotage: How Hybrid Tactics Target the West"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Russia and other hostile states have become increasingly brazen in adopting \u201cgray zone\u201d attacks against Europe and the United States, leaving defense officials with a dilemma: How to respond?<\/p>\n

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\"Air<\/picture><\/div>
Ramstein Air Base in Germany, one of the biggest U.S. posts in Europe, where mysterious drones appeared in what analysts suspected may have been a state-sponsored surveillance mission.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Ronald Wittek\/EPA, via Shutterstock<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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When mysterious drones began appearing over oil rigs and wind farms off Norway\u2019s coast about three years ago, officials were not certain where they came from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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But \u201cwe knew what they were doing,\u201d Stale Ulriksen, a researcher at the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy, said in a recent interview. \u201cSome of it was espionage, where they are charting a lot of things. Some of it, I think, was positioning in case of a war or a deep crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The drones were suspected of being launched from Russian-controlled ships in the North Sea, Mr. Ulriksen said, including some ships that were near underwater energy pipelines. Norway could not do much to stop them, he added, given that they were flying over international waters.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, reports of drone swarms over the United States\u2019 East Coast have brought fears of hybrid warfare to widespread attention. Only\u00a0100 out of 5,000 drone sightings there required further examination, U.S. officials said, and so far none are believed to have been foreign surveillance drones. But it is a different story for the\u00a0drones\u00a0spotted in late November and early December over military bases in\u00a0England<\/a>\u00a0and Germany where American forces are stationed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n