A Growing Phenomenon and New Challenges
The use of drones has become normalized in Europe and is emerging as one of the emerging threats in 2026 in areas such as industrial inspection, logistics, agriculture, and audiovisual production, especially due to the increase of unauthorized flights in sensitive environments such as urban areas, industrial zones, and near strategic infrastructures.
In 2025, local authorities, essential service operators, and regulatory bodies agreed that this phenomenon is no longer marginal. Low-altitude airspace, traditionally little monitored, has become a new focus area from the perspective of risk management and operational resilience.
During this period, there were also clear signs of how this activity is evolving across Europe, with recent analyses showing that airport disruptions due to drone sightings quadrupled between January 2024 and November 2025, reflecting an increase in incidents that can affect airspace management and operational continuity in critical infrastructures.
Unauthorized Surveillance and Associated Risks
In most recorded cases, the misuse of drones is not linked to direct attacks. The main identified risk is unauthorized surveillance. Commercial drones, accessible and easy to operate, allow observation of facilities, tracking of movements, analysis of activity patterns, or capturing sensitive information without physical access to the premises. This capability is particularly relevant for energy facilities, logistics hubs, transportation infrastructures, and institutional buildings.
Unlike other threats, this type of activity can develop gradually and repeatedly without triggering immediate alerts. Without specific detection capabilities, many of these flights go unnoticed or are only identified after they have achieved their objective. This highlights the limitations of traditional protection models, historically focused on perimeter control.
Operational Disruption and Escalation to Physical Damage
A second level of risk is related to operational disruption. Throughout 2025, multiple incidents were recorded in which the presence of unidentified drones forced operations to be interrupted, airspaces to be temporarily closed, or additional preventive protocols to be activated. Airports, ports, public events, and industrial environments were affected, with direct consequences for service continuity and operational planning, although without significant material damage.
These incidents, even without a clearly hostile intent, create uncertainty and reveal a lack of visibility over what is happening in the immediate airspace. They also serve to evaluate the response capacity of authorities and operators, reinforcing the need for early detection mechanisms and real-time analysis.
Only in a small number of cases has an escalation toward physical damage been observed. Although this scenario remains infrequent in the European context, its existence confirms that progression from observation to disruption, and ultimately material impact, is possible when adequate preventive measures are not in place.
Airspace Management and Surveillance Tools
In this context, the management of low-altitude airspace is beginning to integrate naturally into urban and industrial security strategies. The detection, identification, and tracking of unauthorized drones are progressively incorporated as an additional layer within broader risk management approaches.
In this setting, solutions such as SQ Sentinel are deployed, designed for real-time monitoring of drone traffic in complex environments. These systems turn low-visibility airspace into an operational information source, providing clear situational awareness and supporting informed decision-making.
The experience accumulated during 2025 indicates that this challenge will continue to grow. As drones gain autonomy, range, and capabilities, the protection of nearby airspace becomes a key element for the resilience of cities, industrial zones, and strategic European assets.
The question is no longer whether this challenge should be addressed, but how to do so in a proportionate, effective manner, aligned with the regulatory and operational frameworks of each territory.