Europe weighs giving utilities, infrastructure companies more powers to bring down drones

By Maria Rugamer, Leo Marchandon, Marek Strzelecki and Florence Loeve Oct 21 (Reuters) At a former flight-test base south of Paris, drones swoop over fields and woodland as teams on the ground test systems designed to stop them — a response to a growing wave of drone incursions and hybrid attacks since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. The potential clients for technology such as electronic jammers and interceptor drones tested at the Brétigny-sur-Orge site are no longer just governments, police and armies. Private firms and state entities across Europe that operate critical infrastructure want to strengthen their defences, with some utilities asking for authorisation to shoot drones down themselves. From Paris to Berlin, governments are taking note. They are worried that hybrid warfare ​or a drone attack could knock out power to millions of people — as has happened frequently in Ukraine after Russian strikes. It is a theoretical, and increasingly a practical, possibility that there