The US Picatinny Arsenal base, one of two US military bases in New Jersey targeted by drones. Photo: US Department of Defence.
Mysterious drones operating over New Jersey military installations recently are continuing to frustrate the US military and politicians alike.
The US Department of Defence (DoD)’s Joint Staff addressed the US media on the issue together with officials from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Social media has been abuzz with sightings of the drones over New Jersey and New York, describing some of them as the size of small cars.
Drones were detected over Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle bases in New Jersey as well as at US bases in the UK and Germany recently; Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio reportedly had to close its airspace on Friday night (US time) due to drones.
At least one New Jersey resident was filmed on social media firing at a drone in between power lines.
Politicians and mayors are demanding answers.
A Joint Staff spokesperson said the DoD remains frustrated by the drones.
“The main point is to deter the activity using some of our electronic means that can respond to most of these small commercial systems and deny them access to the airspace over our bases,” the spokesperson said.
“We don’t know what the activity is. We don’t know … if it is criminal. But I will tell you that it is irresponsible. Here on the military side, we are just as frustrated with the irresponsible nature of this activity.”
The spokesperson said there had sightings of drones over military installations in New Jersey but added that they were typical.
“This is not a new issue for us. We’ve had to deal with drone incursions over our bases for quite a time now. It’s something that we routinely respond to in each and every case when reporting is cited.”
The spokesperson said military installations can detect and respond to such drones and that personnel can identify and keep drones from flying unauthorised over bases.
The FBI, DHS, FAA and DOD have been unable to determine who is responsible for flying the drones with no indication that hostile nations are involved.
“To date, we have no intelligence or observations that would indicate that they were aligned with a foreign actor or that they had malicious intent,” the spokesperson said.
“But … we don’t know. We have not been able to locate or identify the operators or the points of origin.”
The spokesperson said the military has “limited authority” to investigate off-base in the US and cannot conduct surveillance or reconnaissance operations either.
“We have to co-ordinate with law enforcement to try to do that, which we are doing,” the spokesperson said.
The Joint Staff is a group of staff officers who support the US military Joint Chiefs of Staff leadership group.
