More than 20 days into phenomenon, Pentagon still has no answers about origins of mysterious NJ drones
More than three weeks after dozens of mysterious drones began popping up over New Jersey, the public has still been offered no clear insight on what the phenomenon could be.
More than three weeks after dozens of mysterious drones began popping up in the New Jersey night sky, the public has still been offered no clear insight on what the phenomenon could be.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., suggested the swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles could be from an Iranian "mothership."
The Pentagon shot down his idea.
"There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States," said Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh. She added there is "no evidence" to suggest the drones are "the work of a foreign adversary."
"We aren’t being told the truth," Van Drew responded Thursday on Fox News. "They are dealing with the American public like we’re stupid."
While the Pentagon maintains that the drones are not foreign, the FBI has admitted it is "concerned" about how little the agency knows about them.
Asked if Americans are "at risk," Robert Wheeler, FBI assistant director of the Critical Incident Response Group, told Congress on Tuesday: "There is nothing that is known that would lead me to say that, but we just don't know. And that's the concerning part."
Asked on Thursday if they'd learned anything since then, the FBI suggested to Fox News Digital the phenomenon might not actually be drones.
"We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus. The FBI, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) and our federal partners, in close coordination with the New Jersey State Police, continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or are instead manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings," a spokesperson said.
"We are supporting local law enforcement in New Jersey with numerous detection methods but have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space."
In recent weeks, the drones have flown near sensitive sites, like a military research facility.
And if the drones aren’t foreign in origin, onlookers are left wondering why it’s taking U.S. agencies so long to figure out who is behind them.
"What I can say is a lot of our detection systems, means of tracking and understanding, are so vastly undersized and radically out of date," Doug Birkey, executive director of the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, told Fox News Digital.
"So it would not surprise me that we could still be out of sync with this and not understand at the level we should," he added. "After the Cold War, the notion of air defense really took a back burner."
And Birkey remains unconvinced that the drones are not foreign in origin.
"I don't think we can speak declaratively about the source, but obviously they seem of a certain sophistication, size and set of behaviors that would suggest high potential of being from an adversary source," he said.
"I think they are either using them for intel, imagery, etc., but they can also just be testing us to see what our responses are, to then help inform their strategies and their concepts of operation."
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has insisted the drones do not pose a threat to public safety. The FBI is assisting local law enforcement in investigating and has called on the public for assistance through its tip line.
It’s far from the first time unidentified drones have been seen flying near U.S. military installations. Last year, drones hovered near Langley Air Force Base for over two weeks, and their origin has still not been revealed. Before that, a Chinese spy balloon traversed the U.S., traipsing near military installations, for a week before being shot down off the East Coast.
"There are seemingly few hard consequences [for the drones], and that is causing a very dangerous risk of escalation," said Birkey.
None of the New Jersey drones have been shot down or had their systems jammed by U.S. officials. The drones that hovered near Langley were not intercepted, either.
"Whoever is flying these drones does not necessarily care about their relationship with Federal Aviation Administration, the FAA, because clearly they’re breaking almost every rule the FAA has in place for safe drone flying," said Pramod Abichandani, associate professor at NJIT’s School of Applied Engineering and a drone expert.
"These drones are flying at night, over populated areas, flying around in a group, whether they’re being programmed as a swarm of drones or not," he said. "All of those things are not permitted freely by the FAA."
In military settings, officers use "swarms" of drones to attack enemies to make it harder for them to shoot the drones down.
The drones are "six feet in diameter," fly in a coordinated way with their lights off and "appear to avoid detection by traditional methods," according to New Jersey state Rep. Dawn Fantasia, who relayed a briefing given by law enforcement.
MYSTERIOUS DRONE SIGHTINGS CONTINUE TO BE REPORTED IN NEW JERSEY WITHOUT ANSWERS
The drones were first spotted on Nov. 18, and have been spotted every night since, flying from dusk to about 11 p.m. Reports have ranged from four to 180 sightings per night.
"We know nothing. Period. To state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading, and I informed all officials of that sentiment," she said.
"At this point, I believe military intervention is the only path forward. There will be no answers in the absence of proactivity."
U.S. Northern Command, the military command center in charge of defending the U.S. homeland, said it had not yet been asked to step in and help.
"We are aware and monitoring the reports of unauthorized drone flights in the vicinity of military installations in New Jersey, to include Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle, and we refer you to those installations for information on any efforts they may be conducting to ensure the safety and security of their personnel and operations," a U.S. Nothern Command spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
