China bombards US warships with drones: One LANDED on deck of destroyer near Hong Kong
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US warships have been bombed by suspected Chinese espionage for the past five years, according to newly released naval data.
Following a request from the Freedom of Information Act from: The War Zonethe unsealed documents show that US fleets were plagued by unidentified drones that appeared to document US military forces in the Pacific.
Among the incidents were a drone landing on an American ship in Hong Kong, the arrest of a Chinese national who was piloting a drone in Pearl Harbor and another series of drones snooping around a nuclear stockpile.
In all, there were about 35 reports of incidents dating back to 2017, with the Navy withholding information about 116 other reports because they contained classified information.
The WarZone, which has long documented such incidents, warned that the reports “underscore that drone encounters have become commonplace and that some of them may in fact be attempts by adversaries or potential adversaries to spy on US troops at home.” harass or otherwise harass. and abroad.’
The US Navy documented 35 reports of drones suspected of surveillance of the US fleet in the Pacific between 2017 and 2021. One incident involved a swarm of drones around the USS Paul Hamilton (above) in 2019, which was stationed in San Diego.
The drones appeared at night in late July, with reports that they were flashing lights, suspected camera flashes, near the destroyer-class ship
One of the most worrying incidents described in the Navy’s records was the USS Paul Hamilton, which was stationed in San Diego in July 2019.
According to the report, a series of drones swarmed over the ship’s crew on July 30 and 31, with the planes flashing “a searchlight or photographic device” onto the ship.
The ship’s cameras were able to capture one of the drones flying over the first night.
Just two weeks before the incident, the destroyer-class ship was harassed by another set of drones, which The War Zone had previously linked to Hong Kong-based Bass Strait’s ship.
There were four more incidents related to Hong Kong, most notably one in which the destroyer’s USS Chafee caught two drones flying over the ship in October 2017.
According to Navy reports, one of the drones landed on the US ship, where the crew managed to secure it and hand it over to the Naval Criminal Investigative Team.
The report does not reveal what emerged from the investigation, other than that the incident was documented as alleged “surveillance” by the USS Chafee.
Not much was disclosed about the other three incidents in Hong Kong, except that the attack ship USS Makin Island reported multiple drones in the vicinity over three days in April 2017.
The USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitiz-class aircraft carrier, also reported multiple drones around it while it was based in Hong Kong in October 2017.
The USS Chafee, which was stationed in Hong Kong in 2017, had two drones flying around it, one of which was captured by the crew members after it successfully landed on the ship
Back in the US, more incidents of alleged Beijing espionage were reported when a Chinese national was arrested at Pearl Harbor.
Officials took the man into custody for flying a small drone at Rainbow Bay Marina on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
‘The drone operator… stated that he had just finished the visit'[ing] the [USS] Arizona Memorial and decided to test out its new drone… [by taking] a view of the sailboats in Rainbow Bay Marina,” the report reads.
While the report notes that officials concluded there were no signs of espionage in the incident, it also revealed that multiple Chinese tourists were arrested between 2018 and 2020 for entering naval installations and taking photos of them.
There were at least three other reports of such incidents at Pearl Harbor that opened FBI investigations.
The Navy reported the arrest of a Chinese nation at Pearl Harbor after it was caught flying a drone around the battleship USS Arizona (above). Although the case was not considered espionage, officials noted several arrests of Chinese tourists around naval installations
Several drone surveillance incidents have been reported at the US Naval Base Kitsap (above) and the neighboring Bangor base, in Washington, where some of the country’s most powerful nuclear warheads are stored.
Another incident detailed in the reports includes drone sightings by the naval base in Bangor, Washington, which is home to some of the country’s most powerful nuclear warheads.
According to the documents, military personnel were handling explosives when a drone was spotted around the base in January 2017.
A gunman aboard the Bangor spotted the drone with night vision goggles and documented the incident as a surveillance attempt.
Several other surveillance incidents had been reported at the nearby Kitsap Naval Base, at least one of which prompted an FBI investigation.
Representatives from the United States Navy and the Department of Defense did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
The Navy released a video about another incident last month. The drones, captured on April 24, 2019, were equipped with four multicolored lights as they flew in circles around the USS Zumwalt off the coast of Southern California
The USS Zumwalt is unique in that it is the most technologically capable stealth warship available to the US Navy
The latest batch of reports comes just a month after the Navy released a new video showing the moment a sailor filmed six mysterious drones swarming around its most advanced warship in April 2019.
This incident captured drones floating around the USS Zumlwalt, although six other ships were involved, and all incidents took place between March and July 2019.
It happened 19 miles off the coast of California, in international waters, while the Zumwalt was stationed at Camp Pendleton.
In the video, a sailor can be heard recounting the strange event, saying that the plane is operating at an altitude of 300 to 1,000 feet and has created multiple flyovers and circular patterns around the ship.
While the video obtained through an investigation by The ride is unclear, it shows a drone with multicolored lights buzzing above the ship flying in “consistent patterns”, and the sailor also says they appear to be unarmed.
At one point, one of the drones passed over the deck of the ship and failed to make contact with the ship itself.
Drone swarming events have become more frequent in recent years, with some incidents even using less capable drones as “canaries” to divert security systems or investigate defenses.