Top US security officials are still scratching their heads after an unknown fleet of drones penetrated restricted military airspace for 17 straight days last December.
new report, It was first detailed by The Wall Street JournalMilitary personnel say they saw the mysterious fleet on a stretch of land at Langley Air Force Base along the Virginia Beach. The drones will appear in the sky about 45 minutes to an hour after sunset each night.
Former Air Force General Mark Kelly was first informed of the sighting of the drone in December 2023, the outlet reports. They appeared for 17 straight days, with Pentagon officials suspecting they may have been deployed by Chinese or Russian agents to spy on the US military.
But because the drones did not pose an imminent threat, and officials at the time were unsure whether they were being used for nefarious purposes or perhaps just errant amateurs, the military was prohibited from shooting them down, citing the potential risks to troops. And civilians.
The White House has met with the Department of Defense, the FBI and the Pentagon’s UFO Office, as well as outside experts, to discuss what to do about the mysterious formations, but there are several solutions, including launching nets to catch drones and using electronic signals to jam. Their navigation systems also didn’t make the cut.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the drone battalion It flew in a precise pattern On the same road every night.
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Kelly described the first drone he saw as about 20 feet long and flying at more than 100 kilometers per hour, at an altitude of about 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Kelly said as many as a dozen drones followed her, and he said the drones looked like constellations in the night sky.
The breach was so alarming that Langley officials canceled their night training missions and moved their F-22 fighter jets to another base.
FILE – A U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor stealth fighter performs a test flight during the inaugural trilateral exercise between the U.S. Air Force, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force and the French Air Force at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Virginia, Dec. 15. 2015.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
According to Fox News, two months before the fleet appeared over Langley, Five mysterious drones It reportedly violated restricted airspace over a government nuclear weapons testing site in Nevada.
Four drones were reportedly discovered by the Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site outside Las Vegas, while a fifth was spotted by staff. The Ministry of Defense has not yet publicly announced who is behind these drones.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) website, “Reports Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAS) sightings. of pilots, citizens and law enforcement remains high.
The Federal Aviation Administration says it is receiving More than 100 UAS reports month.
“The agency wants to send a clear message that operating drones around airplanes, helicopters, and airports is dangerous and illegal. Unauthorized operators may be subject to stiff fines and criminal charges, including possible imprisonment,” the website states, reminding drone operators to review the rules regarding Where and when the drone is safe to fly.
From July to September of this year, the FAA registered more than 400 drones.
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