Drones Here, There and Everywhere
Drone sightings have Americans on edge as Biden era ends
Drones here, drones there, drones seemingly everywhere. And we are not talking about honeybees. What exactly is going on? Video footage from a dash cam recorded on November 21st, 2024, on State Route 15 in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania put the small borough briefly in the national spotlight. The driver was northbound on the divided highway when two “drones” flew overhead at less than 100 feet above ground level. This incident drew national attention amid numerous recent sightings in New Jersey. The nighttime sighting adds to numerous reports not only from New Jersey, but also across America and around the world about drone activity at or near critical U.S. facilities.
Americans, understandably, want to know what is going on. The truth of the matter is that the public simply does not conclusively know what is happening. What is certain is that the early denials and claims of folks mistaking this activity for commercial aircraft is rubbish. The Federal Government’s opaque behavior since the drone story gained traction several weeks ago has only fueled distrust in the government and a rash of conspiracy theories.
Over the past several weeks countless additional sightings have occurred, most prominently over New Jersey, including 11 confirmed sightings over Picatinny Arsenal, a military research and manufacturing facility located on 6,400 acres in New Jersey, not far from President Trump's Bedminster Golf Course.
The U.S. Naval Support Activity, U.S. Army War College, Fort Indian Town Gap and the Defense Logistics Agency are all located within a short distance of the Dillsburg sighting in Central Pennsylvania, though the size of the drones makes it unlikely they were anything other than short flight duration models. The drones are likely either hobbyists owned or test model commercial versions.
In December 2023, unidentified drones flew over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia for 17 days. The drones were first seen on December 6th with multiple incursions throughout the month observed by several Air Force officials. A few weeks after the drone sightings, a 26-year-old Chinese citizen and graduate student was arrested and later plead guilty to taking photos of classified naval installations with his drone.
Since then, U.S. air bases in the United Kingdom at RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell in eastern England as well as RAF Fairford in southwestern England have been the targets of drone activity. The drones were actively monitored while flying over the bases. Though the Air Force hasn’t identified who is behind the incursions, unspecified mitigation measures are reportedly underway.
A 39-year-old Chinese citizen and U.S. resident, Yinpiao Zhou, was arrested December 9th, 2024, at the San Francisco International Airport as he was trying to depart for China. Federal prosecutors have accused him of flying a drone and taking pictures of Vandenberg Space Force Base. According to a government press release, Zhou is charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace.
On Friday December 13th, 2024, Wright-Patterson AFB outside Dayton, Ohio was forced to close its airspace over unauthorized drone activity. Recorded radio traffic indicated the air traffic control tower warned an inbound aircraft about dangers posed by multiple drones.
The hoopla with purported drone sightings over New Jersey is in some way reminiscent of the hysteria over Orson Welles adaptation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds novel created. "The War of the Worlds" was a Halloween episode of the radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air narrated by Orson Welles performed and broadcast live at 8PM on October 30th, 1938, over the CBS Radio Network. The episode is infamous for inciting panic by convincing some members of the listening audience that a Martian invasion was taking place.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., recently claimed in an interview as well as a social media post that the drones flying over New Jersey were "possibly linked to a missing Iranian mothership" off the east coast, a claim which Defense Department officials strongly denied.
Iranian motherships, Chinese spies, hobbyists, commercial aircraft, Russian spies, Feds searching for a radiological device, the list of conspiracy theories is almost endless, as is the number of attention seekers on social media making unfounded claims for clicks.
What we are collectively seeing is no doubt a combination of bias confirmation, actual UAVs operated by law enforcement, hobbyists and Chinese sponsored spies, as well as light aircraft. But the “mum is the word” approach of the Biden Administration in an era of clickbait social media is not helpful. The Feds look as if they have no idea what is going on, nor what different parts of the same government are doing in response. The problem is a lack of leadership throughout the federal government and a stubborn tendency to avoid transparency. President-elect Trump recently claimed the government knows what is going on.
There are plenty of countermeasures available to a government willing to do its job, including but not limited to: radio jamming, geo-fencing, counter air operations and much more. Geofencing is a virtual boundary around a physical area that uses GPS, radio-frequency identification (RFID), WiFi, or cellular data to trigger actions when a person or asset enters or exits the area.
This is not difficult to handle. There are laws and rules for operating drones. Legitimate aircraft and drones are all required to be registered. Since September 2023, even hobbyist drones registered with the FAA are required to broadcast Remote ID information. President Trump is correct: the Feds know what is going on. The drone sightings came too early to be Santa Claus. What are they hiding from us?
Colonel (Ret) Chris Wyatt is a 36-year Military Intelligence Officer and Intelligence Analyst