Featured Drone Sightings in New Jersey. Who is flying them and why?

[AgnosticBoy]

Recent sightings of UFOs making headline news!

Of course, some sightings are bound to be planes or misidentified objects. But there is usually a small percentage of sightings that seem to defy explanation.

Here's local news reporting..

 

[AgnosticBoy]

"they can bring them down but don't have the authority to do it" (1:50)


"coast guard vessel trailer by a group of drones" 50 seconds)

The end is near!!. Perhaps the senator in the video is just trying to get the attention of the federal govt.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Yes, this is now being covered by the national news networks:

A US Representative claims this is coming from a ship out in the Atlantic owned by Iran.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

The large mysterious drones reported flying over parts of New Jersey in recent weeks appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio, according to a state lawmaker briefed Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security.

In a post on the social media platform X, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia described the drones as up to 6 feet in diameter and sometimes traveling with their lights switched off. The Morris County Republican was among several state and local lawmakers who met with state police and Homeland Security officials to discuss the spate of sightings that range from the New York City area through New Jersey and westward into parts of Pennsylvania, including over Philadelphia.

The devices do not appear to be being flown by hobbyists, Fantasia wrote.

Two Republican Jersey Shore-area congressmen, U.S. Reps. Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew, have called on the military to shoot down the drones.

Smith said a Coast Guard commanding officer briefed him on an incident over the weekend in which a dozen drones followed a motorized Coast Guard lifeboat “in close pursuit” near Barnegat Light and Island Beach State Park in Ocean County.

Coast Guard Lt. Luke Pinneo told The Associated Press Wednesday “that multiple low-altitude aircraft were observed in vicinity of one of our vessels near Island Beach State Park.”

The aircraft weren't perceived as an immediate threat and didn't disrupt operations, Pinneo said. The Coast Guard is assisting the FBI and state agencies in investigating.

So who or what is behind the flying objects? Where are they coming from? What are they doing? “My understanding is they have no clue,” Peterson said.

A message seeking comment was left with the Department of Homeland Security.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/fbi-drones-new-jersey-a978470fa3bb07ed3e98c5b7c18f0abb

Now this is the type of evidence and scrutiny that we need. Far too often we find the government and researchers simply dismissing such claims or having such events reported by loony crackpot theorists. But now we have video, we have these flying objects being observed by law enforcement and military. It's now the skeptics and government that seem to be losing credibility when they try to dismiss these claims. Of course, this doesn't automatically mean we're dealing with extraterrestrials or aliens.

Here's some raw video of these drones:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1865901628458496245

https://twitter.com/x/status/1863356421783359583

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

"they can bring them down but don't have the authority to do it" (1:50)

This is the right-wing metaphor of weakness. It might even be true in particular cases.

But it’s believed all too readily.

From a military and security perspective, the best option is to capture one of these drones which are the size of a small car. Shooting down is a back-up option.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Alright, here's what the National Security Communication Advisor, John Kirby, said about the drones,

On Thursday afternoon, John Kirby, the White House spokesman on national security matters, told reporters that the Department of Homeland Security,
the FBI and state and local law enforcement agencies “have not been able to corroborate any of the reported visual sightings" of the drones.

Upon reviewing images of the sightings, law enforcement officials have concluded that “these are actually manned aircraft that are being operated lawfully” and that there have been no confirmed drone sightings in restricted airspace, Kirby said, adding that they have uncovered no malicious activity.

- MSNBC

I've kept up with this issue, and I must say that Mr. Kirby is blowing a lot of hot air. It could be that he doesn't want to tell what the government knows for national security reasons or he's just unable to acknowledge that the Federal Government is wrong and/or slow to deal with these cases that are first reported by citizens just as they were with the spy balloon, which took public scrutiny to bring about action.

Fact check
Claim: The FBI and state and local law enforcement agencies “have not been able to corroborate any of the reported visual sightings"

Verdict: Mostly False. Local law enforcement and even the coast guard have reported drones. Even personnel at military bases in New Jersey have reported drones. The only truth to Kirby's statement is that the FBI hasn't formally confirmed drone sightings.

The facts to back up the verdict:
1. Police helicopters have encountered drones which counts as a positive ID by law enforcement -

New Jersey Assemblyman Greg Myhre said that in a briefing Wednesday, State Police Superintendent Pat Callahan mentioned a State Police helicopter hovering over one of the drones.

Once the helicopter was hovering over the drone, the drone’s lights shut off, Callahan said in the briefing. The helicopter then backed off for safety reasons.

- https://www.gainesville.com/story/n...new-jersey-white-house-lawmakers/76956011007/

2. The Coast Guard have confirmed drone sightings since they were being chased by a group of them in the ocean -

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith said a Coast Guard commanding officer told him a dozen drones closely followed a Coast Guard lifeboat near Barnegat Light and Island Beach State Park in Ocean County over the weekend.

- https://6abc.com/post/what-do-know-mysterious-drones-reported-flying-new-jersey/15650773/

And the US Coast Guard incident came right after this incident:

One of the department’s own officers called 911 on Thursday evening after seeing 50 of them come off the Atlantic Ocean.

“We contacted state police. We contacted the FBI. We contacted the Coast Guard, at which point the Coast Guard went out with their boat and they reported seeing 13 (drones) following their boat,” said Sheriff Michael Mastronardy. “And then the Coast Guard also advised that they went over them about 300 feet and had a wingspan of about eight feet.”

Source: https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/northeast/watch-drones-spotted-new-jersey-mystery/

3. Drones reported over a military base in New Jersey...

Naval Weapons Station Earle, which is located in Colts Neck, New Jersey, said it was "aware" of the sightings in the region and "continues to closely coordinate with federal and state agencies to ensure the safety of our personnel and operations."

"
While no direct threats to the installation have been identified, we can confirm multiple instances of unidentified drones entering the airspace above Naval Weapons Station Earle," Bill Addison, public affairs officer for the naval station
, said in a statement to ABC News. "The base remains prepared to respond to any potential risks, leveraging robust security measures and advanced detection capabilities

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/multiple-...e-new-jersey-naval-station/story?id=116763570


If this doesn't convince you, check out this huge smackdown this reporter put on John Kirby where he scales back his claim where he tries to make it as though all drone sightings were really "manned aircraft" to now saying that there are some cases where the aircraft are of unknown origin:

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

It could be that he doesn't want to tell what the government knows for national security reasons

He should have said — “No Comment. It’s an active investigation, and No Comment.”

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

Mayorkas says federal authorities are addressing New Jersey drone sightings

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said the federal government is taking action to address the drone sightings that have prompted concern in New Jersey.

abcnews.go.com

Dec 15, 2024 —

“With respect to the ability to incapacitate those drones, we are limited in our authorities,” Mayorkas responded. “We have certain agencies within the Department of Homeland Security that can do that and outside our department, but we need those authorities expanded as well.”

—————————————

He’s basically saying, We’re just poor, pitiful people. And we can’t do anything.

Declare a particular drone situation a threat to national security, I bet we can do something.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Here's one issue, how do you tell the difference between a plane and drone. I've heard people dismissing drone videos because the drone looks like a plane. But then I find these images of drones that also have wings. Look at the different varieties - the first one is a reaper drone and it has wings:

Source: https://www.identifiedtech.com/blog/uav-surveying/drone-technology-ending-the-drone-vs-uav-debate-drone-basics-101/#:~:text=Everyone is talking about them,fly without a pilot onboard.

Source: https://www.auav.com.au/articles/drone-types/#4

Then of course, there's the ones you can buy yourself for recreational use - rotary drones:

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Another important question.. can drones be Identified just as cars on the roads are identified via license plate?

Any drone in the U.S. weighing more than 0.55 pounds must be registered with the FAA and can be easily tracked with GPS technology. Nearly 800,000 drones are registered in the U.S., according to the FAA.

Furthermore, drones weighing more than 0.55 pounds are required by the FAA to adhere to Remote Identification (Remote ID) rules – essentially the equivalent of a “digital license plate,” broadcasting the drone’s location and altitude from takeoff to shutdown. This allows authorized personnel to monitor the device and ensure its complying with regulations and not violating any flight restrictions.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/new-jersey-drone-mystery/story?id=116719847#:~:text=Any drone in the U.S.,U.S., according to the FAA.

This is one reason why it is troubling for law enforcement to have said that they don't know where these recent drones originate from.

New Jersey Senator Andy Kim witnessed drones that he could not detect on his drone tracking app:

Mr Kim has said an officer pointed out the lights to him at the Round Valley Reservoir in Hunterdon County.

Mr Kim also said that some of the unidentified objects appeared to be moving in "small clusters of 2-4" but they often saw "5-7 lights" at a time.

"We clearly saw several that would move horizontally and then immediately switch back in the opposite direction in manoeuvres that planes can't do," he added.

The senator added he and the police officers used a flight tracker app to help them check if what they could see were planes.


He added the lights were "low and not associated with aircraft we could see on the tracker app".

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/new-jers...-conspiracy-theories-about-sightings-13273306

Senator Kim's drone vids:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1867582643346571730

Update... Senator Kim got a follow up analysis of some of his sightings:

While not receiving any feedback/info from federal officials, I reached out to civilian aviators/others for analysis. I used public flight tracking tools to recreate the conditions of my time out. For instance I was at Round Valley Reservoir at 9:20pm and shot this video. 2/9

- X

I don’t discount others may have seen actual drone activity, and not all I saw is fully explained by flight paths, but much of it was. And I think the process through which I got confirmation points to the kind of explanation we need from gov authorities to address the public’s concern. 5/9

- X

Senator Kim also said this about why planes didn't show up on his public app tracker:
While I didn’t observe a plane in the flight tracker at that moment that night, I was able to pull up more detailed flight data subsequently and spotted this one small plane taking the path of what was pointed out to me the other night as a possible drone flying near us. 3/9

- X

I share this because this is the kind of analysis we need but are not getting from the federal government to explain this situation. FAA experts have much more experience/resources to identify aircraft. Instead I’m left to draw on civilian support and public apps. 4/9

- X

We appreciate the follow up Senator Andy Kim!