Drones over New Jersey (USA)

[LT Ducky]

For the past three weeks there have been mysterious drone sightings in the skies of northern New Jersey. The sightings seem to be only at night, usually after midnight. Sometimes they are described as big as an automobile. They’ve been spotted near Trump’s golf course in Bedminster NJ as well as in the vicinity of some major military installations.

The story has reached the mainstream media and the official word is that their origin and purpose is unknown to local, state, federal and military officials - but interestingly enough we are being told they pose no threat to the general population. Seems odd to me that they can be considered harmless when no knows anything about them.
 

Questions were asked at the White House press briefing and the usual obfuscating answer was given. 
 

This is all happening 40-50 miles from my home. 
 

My take on the whole situation is - wait for it - mass hysteria.

Anyone else following this?

[Tim Sielbeck]

 

[Ivanhoe]

3 hours ago, LT Ducky said:

My take on the whole situation is - wait for it - mass hysteria.

Anyone else following this?

Discussed here;

 

2 hours ago, Tim Sielbeck said:

 

A bit confused, I think. Radford Arsenal is in Virginia, Picatinny is the arsenal in NJ.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/in_focus/3188449/us-air-defenses-full-holes-chinese-drones-exploit/

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/2331797/unidentified-drones-sighted-flying-over-us-government-nuclear-labs/

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/3246301/british-special-forces-drone-hunt-raf-lakenheath/

https://www.hill.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3992742/small-unmanned-aerial-systems-awareness-on-base/

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/11/25/strange-drones-have-been-buzzing-us-air-force-bases-united-kingdom.html

 

 

 

[Tim Sielbeck]

I believe the reference to the arsenal was part of an FAA video showing how the RFID is supposed to work.

[Tim the Tank Nut]

shoot one down and the owners will come squalling about it.

A good rifleman shoot be able to manage it.

[Stuart Galbraith]

1 minute ago, Tim the Tank Nut said:

shoot one down and the owners will come squalling about it.

A good rifleman shoot be able to manage it.

 

[Tim the Tank Nut]

the drones are most certainly Chinese in origin.  The US Government claims to know nothing about it so let a private citizen solve the riddle.

[Stuart Galbraith]

The vast majority of  them are misattributed. For example there have been countless posts on Twitter, where people are saying 'They look like an AI rendition of an aircraft, but they dont look quite right.' Which sounds alarmingly like Ufologists whom say the 1890's Californian airship scare was clearly UFO's trying to look like Airships, and other such silliness. The 1890's sightings were hoaxes by bored telegraph men and newspapermen that wanted copy. im sure much the same is happening now.

Drones are so available now, I suspect the vast majority of the rest  are American citizens, checking out Atomic plants or military bases, simply because they are not allowed to. Dont stuff you are told is illegal is incredibly seductive to a lot of people.  We had a spate of drones seen above Gatwick airport about 2 years back. They never got the people involved, but there was no logical need for the PRC to use a drone to spy on a major airport, when they have spy satellites. Most like it was British citizens, not apparently entirely clear they were behaving like total dickheads.

I dont entirely write off the idea of UAP's. I was listening to a strange case that occurred in the 1970's where some were seen over a major missile field in Nebraska I think, and there were multiple malfunctions of missiles reported. Weird shit happens, and its not always the PRC responsible.

 

[LT Ducky]

I hereby withdraw my statement that the drones sightings were due to mass hysteria. A long-time friend just sent me a picture his wife took. 11:30 at night and her comments were ‘loud and big as a car’.

[Tim the Tank Nut]

Ducks, surely you can hit that with an M1 Garand, five rounds and its on the ground

[Ivanhoe]

3 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

 We had a spate of drones seen above Gatwick airport about 2 years back. They never got the people involved, but there was no logical need for the PRC to use a drone to spy on a major airport, when they have spy satellites.

 

That is a moronic assertion. A 4k camera 500-2000 meters from a target has infinitely more resolution than a 4k camera in LEO looking through hundreds of kilometers of atmosphere (and clouds).

Not to mention the ability to look at structures laterally rather than vertically.

https://www.noozhawk.com/chinese-citizen-arrested-for-allegedly-flying-drone-over-vandenberg-sfb/
 

Quote

 

A Brentwood man bound for China has been arrested for allegedly illegally operating a drone above Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Yinpiao Zhou, 39, is charged with failure to register an aircraft not providing transportation, and violation of national defense airspace, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Zhou, a Chinese citizen and lawful permanent resident of the U.S., most recently returned from China in February, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. 

He was taken into custody Tuesday at San Francisco International Airport prior to boarding a China-bound flight.

 

 

[bfng3569]

was goona post this in the drone thread, seems appropriate there... but since this thread is here...

this is getting silly...

 

 

[Rick]

As Tim the Tank Nut as alluded too, if these drones were flying over the South or MidWest, they wouldn't be flying long enough to be a story except how it got mounted on the wall 

[Stuart Galbraith]

2 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

That is a moronic assertion. A 4k camera 500-2000 meters from a target has infinitely more resolution than a 4k camera in LEO looking through hundreds of kilometers of atmosphere (and clouds).

Not to mention the ability to look at structures laterally rather than vertically.

https://www.noozhawk.com/chinese-citizen-arrested-for-allegedly-flying-drone-over-vandenberg-sfb/
 

 

But why do they need that kind of resolution of a US Airbase or a nuclear plant? And they don't. Photography from orbit is perfectly adequate  for nuclear targeting purposes. You proved that 60 years ago with Corona.

Now if people were flying these over Area 51, I could see the point. But seemingly they are not, and with a telephoto lens you can get all the imagery of the base anyone could want. Any other base in CONUS, use Google earth.

I accept there could be a role for sigint, but you could drive past any base with a step van full of equipment without using a drone at all. In 1999 I was picking up come from a USAF base 30 miles away with a handheld and a dimpole ariel.

I fully accept the PRC are capable of doing such things, I just see no requirement for them to do so.

[bojan]

7 hours ago, Tim the Tank Nut said:

shoot one down ...

And FAA will get your ass.

[Tim the Tank Nut]

but the lies about them being unidentified will be over real quick.  If the FAA wasn't a bunch of lying, useless fucks this problem wouldn't even exist.  

[LT Ducky]

4 hours ago, Tim the Tank Nut said:

Ducks, surely you can hit that with an M1 Garand, five rounds and its on the ground

M1A😀

[rmgill]

Now its being reported the Drones in NJ are possibly of Iranian origin flying off an Iranian ship off the coast. 
 

 

[rmgill]

And  S2 Underground has a different postulation, Pivotal manned e copter testing. 
 

 

 

[Ivanhoe]

5 hours ago, Stuart Galbraith said:

But why do they need that kind of resolution of a US Airbase or a nuclear plant? And they don't. Photography from orbit is perfectly adequate  for nuclear targeting purposes. You proved that 60 years ago with Corona.

Now if people were flying these over Area 51, I could see the point. But seemingly they are not, and with a telephoto lens you can get all the imagery of the base anyone could want. Any other base in CONUS, use Google earth.

I accept there could be a role for sigint, but you could drive past any base with a step van full of equipment without using a drone at all. In 1999 I was picking up come from a USAF base 30 miles away with a handheld and a dimpole ariel.

I fully accept the PRC are capable of doing such things, I just see no requirement for them to do so.

Because you're not thinking.

Higher-res imagery, particularly at low angles, would be extremely helpful in identifying defensive measures, potential spots for explosive charges, etc.

When, not if, the PRC takes a run at Taiwan, its widely expected that they will precede their main attack with an infrastucture attack here in the States. They've been trying to hack into energy infrastructure for years, with some success. But if they really want to panic American citizens and coerce POTUS into circling the wagons at home rather than supporting Taiwan, causing the lights to go out in numerous areas via drones carrying 10 kilos of HE would do it. And the beauty of drones these days is that such an attack would not be casus belli as it could have been done by anybody.

[Ivanhoe]

https://www.app.com/story/news/local/2024/12/10/50-nj-drones-came-in-from-ocean-12-trailed-coast-guard-ship-congressman-fbi-admits-dont-know-origin/76893631007/
 

Quote

 

More than a dozen drones followed a 47-foot Coast Guard boat Sunday night, while law enforcement tracked another 50 drones coming onto land from the ocean at Island Beach State Park, Rep. Chris Smith said.

Meanwhile, an FBI assistant director admitted that the agency doesn’t know who is behind the unidentified drones that are flying over New Jersey.

Authorities did confirm that the drones are not coming from local military bases.

The mystery of the unidentified drones deepened Tuesday, as federal officials admitted during a congressional hearing that despite repeated assurances from Gov. Murphy and other public officials, they can’t say definitively whether the drones pose a threat.

 

.
 

Quote

 

Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle said they are not responsible for the recent scattering of devices in the sky, continuing confusion surrounding the mysterious objects.

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst did not immediately respond for comment.

Since receiving initial reports of the sightings a few weeks ago, Picatinny Arsenal officials immediately began investigating and increased outreach and coordination with several local, state and federal partner organizations to obtain more information, Lt. Col. Craig A. Bonham II, Picatinny Arsenal Garrison Commander, said.

"While the source and cause of these aircraft operating in our area remain unknown, we can confirm that they are not the result of any Picatinny Arsenal-related activities,” Bonham said.

 

 

[Ivanhoe]

https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2024/12/11/drones-over-new-jersey-likely-military-or-defense-contractor-expert-pramod-abichandani/76898388007/
 

Quote

 

The mystery may have piqued the interest of Pramod Abichandani more than anyone.

Abichandani is an expert on “swarming drones” who has done research for the Department of Defense and its various branches, and for defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin. The associate professor at NJIT’s School of Applied Engineering directs its Robotics and Data Lab, known as the RADLab.

Lately, Abichandani has been out in the field with his students, collecting data and waiting to spot any suspicious drones.

 

.
 

Quote

 

Abichandani has no idea as of now whether the drones over New Jersey are swarming drones. But If they turn out to be, it is highly likely that this is a U.S. government or government-funded operation, either by the military or defense contractors, he said.

“If I were to list all the options of who this could be, the very first obvious thing is it has something to do with the military, the U.S. military,” he said.

 

OTOH,
 

Quote

 

Brett Velicovich, a drone expert and a former U.S. Army special operations intelligence analyst who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, told Fox News Wednesday that what's been happening in New Jersey is not the way the government usually operates.

"I've tested a ton of drones over U.S. government installations in partnership with the military and this type of secrecy is just not normal for how we do business," he said.

He acknowledged it could be a dark program. But he has also not ruled out that they may be "adversarial drones," he said during the interview.

 

 

Quote

 

Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., turned up the drama Wednesday by blaming Iran, citing a drone "mothership."

"There is circumstantial evidence that suggests these drones could be the work of foreign adversaries, specifically Iran," Van Drew said in a statement. "Right now, we know that there are drones flying in from the direction of the ocean. We also know there is an Iranian drone mothership that is missing from port in Iran, with a timeline matching the emergence of these drones."

 

 

Quote

The Pentagon said the drones were not from another country and that after an initial assessment. the U.S. military deemed that they were not a threat so had not brought them down, Reuters reported Wednesday evening.

The FBI says they don't know who is flying the drones, the Pentagon supposed told the AP that the drones were not from another country.

Given how the Pentagon handled the Chinese spy balloon, I'm not expecting any truths from them.

 

[Ivanhoe]

NORTHCOM is on it. Kinda. Sorta. Maybe.

 

 

[Ivanhoe]

If you want to go all tinfoil, note that New Jersey's population is about 7% Jewish, and the US is in a weird conundrum between supporting Israel and funding Iran to kill Israelis.

 

[PCallahan]

So... stupid question.  If these are hostile drones, why do they have lights at all?  Wouldn't being fully blacked out be far more desirable?