Reports of mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey have now spread to multiple states as residents and local officials demand answers from the US government.
Since mid-November, numerous car-sized drones have been spotted across the state, sometimes appearing in groups and often staying in the same spot for hours.
The first drone sightings appeared on November 18 over the US Army’s Picatinny Arsenal and President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster.
But reports of varying levels of credibility have now spread to at least twelve counties in the Garden State, as well as eastern Pennsylvania and Orange County, New York.
The FBI and other agencies are investigating, but the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday, “We no longer have any information about where these drones come from, where they launch and where they land.”
Retired police lieutenant and intelligence analyst Tim McMillan told DailyMail.com that the descriptions of the drones in New Jersey “sound exactly like Russian Orlan-10 drones” – secret craft that fly in groups of three to five.
Moreover, he said the recent sightings closely resemble disturbing drone flights over industrial parks around the German port of Brunsbüttel last August.
Lt. McMillan and other experts have noted that the New Jersey sightings centered around Picatinny Arsenal, home of the U.S. Army’s CCDC Armaments Center, which is responsible for the production and delivery of artillery ammunition to Ukraine.
These experts suggest that Russia could conduct an intelligence-gathering mission known as “ferrets,” intended to deliberately trigger and test their foreign rival’s airspace defense procedures and response time.
Or Russia could simply spy on Ukraine’s allies helping in the fight against Russia’s occupation of the southeastern regions, including Donetsk and Mariupol.
A Chinese man has been arrested for allegedly flying a drone over the Vandenberg Space Force Base as the FBI investigates mysterious drones in New Jersey.
Yinpiao Zhou, 39, a Chinese national now living in Brentwood, California, was charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation and violation of national defense airspace.
Zhou was arrested at San Francisco International Airport on Monday before boarding a flight to China and made his first appearance in US court in San Francisco on Tuesday.
“This defendant allegedly flew a drone over a military base and took photographs of the base’s layout, in violation of the law,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada.
At this time, there is no evidence linking Zhou to drone activity in New Jersey and other northeastern states.
But his arrest adds to growing concerns about the ability of foreign entities to infiltrate and conduct surveillance on U.S. airspace.
At a hearing on Tuesday, Robert Wheeler, assistant FBI director, said more than 3,000 sightings had been made through the agency’s tip line set up last week.
When asked if these drones posed a threat to public safety, he said, “There’s nothing known that would cause me to say that, but we just don’t know and that’s the relevant part.”
The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement Thursday saying many of the reports involve legally operated manned aircraft.
The Biden administration and the Pentagon have also pushed back against claims from Republican lawmakers that the drones are being controlled by one of America’s foreign adversaries — including claims that the flights are coming from an Iranian “mothership” off the coast.
Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew said Wednesday that Iran launched the ship “probably about a month ago” after striking a deal with China “to buy drones, a mothership and other technologies.”
Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Sing said in a briefing: “At this time, we have no evidence that these activities are emanating from a foreign entity or the work of an adversary.”
New Jersey residents have reported in recent weeks seeing numerous car-sized drones floating across the state, sometimes appearing in groups and often staying in the same spot for hours.
Now the sightings have spread to two more states: Pennsylvania and New York.
On Thursday evening, Pennsylvanians took to social media to share posts about lights in the sky, from the Easton area to the Slate Belt and beyond.
Multiple sightings were also reported in the Poconos. The Monroe County Office of Emergency Management said it was aware of reports across the county Facebook post.
That same night, emergency services in Orange County, New York, stated that they were “aware of several reported incidents of drone sightings throughout Orange County this evening.” Facebook post.
Residents of Texas and Oklahoma have also reported potential drone sightings, but at this time there is no indication that these are related to the sightings in the northeastern states.
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