Drones "Spying" on New Jersey.

Chip · Dec 9, 2024

Droning on and on... said:
When trust is lost, this becomes much harder to answer, as the possibility of nefarious motives opens up a gigantic universe of potential incentive, willingness, and ability.

That said, I'll posit the likes of Elise Stefanik, if not pointing the finger directly at her.

I think it would be physically impossible for a non-state actor to pull this off due to size and sophistication of craft and the need for federal government to convince many people responsible for aircraft and general public safety to play dumb and look the other way.

Why did the FAA issue a TFR for Picatinny, New Jersey where some of these drones are originating from according to residents? What exactly is the "security" rationale to restrict flights like this?

Airspace Definition:
Center:On the SPARTA VORTAC (SAX) 203 degree radial at 9.1 nautical miles. (Latitude: 40º55'08"N, Longitude: 74º34'50"W)
Radius:2 nautical miles
Altitude:From the surface up to and including 2000 feet AGL

Maybe the flights will stop when the TFR expires on December 26, 2024. Or maybe it will be renewed.

4/8833 NOTAM Details

hank970 · Dec 9, 2024

So many expressions of indignation, hysteria, and mistrust in this thread. Has anyone been physically harmed? No. Any property damage? No. Is there any indication that the mysterious drones have compromised national security or intruded upon anyone's personal privacy? No. Do any drone operators, whether private or governmental, have any obligation to inform the rest of us of their intent and activities? No.

Did Shakespeare write a play about this? Yes. Much Ado About Nothing.

Chip · Dec 9, 2024

New Jersey has been overtaken by drones | NewsNation Now NJ MAYOR SPEAKS

Rotofiend · Dec 9, 2024

Just from the lights you can tell the UAV is massive, definitely nothing anybody's walking out of Best Buy with. Hopefully, government-flown or not this doesn't create more legislation against DJI, though I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it did.

Bad Santa · Dec 9, 2024

MS Coast said:
It's been raining all day, so I'm indoors and had time to look that up. You're right. It is. The fictitious 1938 landing was reported to have occurred in Grover's Mill, New Jersey. There's a monument there commemorating the non-event.

Fictitious? HA! Cute.

Next thing you're going to say is the world isn't flat.

Chip · Dec 10, 2024

In a Sept. 27, 2024 memo, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated that the second phase of the Department of Defense’s Replicator initiative will focus on countering the threat posed by small unmanned aerial systems to force concentrations and critical installations. On December 2 2024, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III signed a classified Strategy for Countering Unmanned Systems. In an unclassified Fact Sheet about the program, the DOD states Unmanned systems pose both an urgent and enduring threat to U.S. personnel, facilities, and assets overseas and at home.

https://media.defense.gov/2024/Dec/...-STRATEGY-FOR-COUNTERING-UNMANNED-SYSTEMS.PDF

My question to Defense Secretary Austin and the DOD is, how is Replicator going so far?

hank970 · Dec 10, 2024

Chip said:
In a Sept. 27, 2024 memo, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated that the second phase of the Department of Defense’s Replicator initiative will focus on countering the threat posed by small unmanned aerial systems to force concentrations and critical installations. On December 2 2024, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III signed a classified Strategy for Countering Unmanned Systems. In an unclassified Fact Sheet about the program, the DOD states Unmanned systems pose both an urgent and enduring threat to U.S. personnel, facilities, and assets overseas and at home.

https://media.defense.gov/2024/Dec/...-STRATEGY-FOR-COUNTERING-UNMANNED-SYSTEMS.PDF

My question to Defense Secretary Austin and the DOD is, how is Replicator going so far?

Maybe the unknown (to us) drones seen over New Jersey are being tested by the DOD to identify, assess, intercept, and destroy adversary Unmanned Systems. Stranger things have happened. You'll probably never know, but would that restore your faith in Lloyd Austin and make you happy?

mavic3usa · Dec 10, 2024

Nothing to see here. In the meantime, let's focus our attention on the real threat:

NFL urges Congress to tackle stadium drone threats

Rogue drone incidents over NFL stadiums are on the rise, with 2,845 unauthorized flights reported in 2023, up from 2,537 the previous year.

dronedj.com

Chip · Dec 10, 2024

hank970 said:
Maybe the unknown (to us) drones seen over New Jersey are being tested by the DOD to identify, assess, intercept, and destroy adversary Unmanned Systems. Stranger things have happened. You'll probably never know, but would that restore your faith in Lloyd Austin and make you happy?

Yes, I would say it is one plausible theory. Would it restore my faith in Lloyd Austin? That would depend on what information is disclosed and when exactly. The FAA should go on record right now and say yes they told us they were going to fly these huge drones all over the place at night and we said okay whatever. Or, nope we have no idea who is doing it or why. We do not ask and we do not tell.

Chip · Dec 10, 2024

Chip said:
Why did the FAA issue a TFR for Picatinny, New Jersey where some of these drones are originating from according to residents? What exactly is the "security" rationale to restrict flights like this?

Airspace Definition:
Center:On the SPARTA VORTAC (SAX) 203 degree radial at 9.1 nautical miles. (Latitude: 40º55'08"N, Longitude: 74º34'50"W)
Radius:2 nautical miles
Altitude:From the surface up to and including 2000 feet AGL

Maybe the flights will stop when the TFR expires on December 26, 2024. Or maybe it will be renewed.

4/8833 NOTAM Details

UPDATE ON DRONE FLIGHTS OVER PICATINNY ARSENAL IN VIOLATION OF FAA TFR:

The Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey -- a military research and production facility in Morris County -- has reported 11 confirmed sightings by a police officer or security guard in response to a report since Nov. 13.
"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," Picatinny Arsenal Garrison Commander. Lt. Col. Craig Bonham II said in a statement Tuesday.

New Jersey state senator calls for 'limited state of emergency' over mysterious drone sightings

A New Jersey state senator is calling for a limited state of emergency over the mysterious drones that have been seen flying over New York and Jersey.

abcnews.go.com

mavic3usa · Dec 10, 2024

I hope the citizens learn this is what it will "feel" like should they allow the local city government to deploy drones in an official law enforcement capacity in their town. Drones have lots of good uses and I am happy to see them do more; however, I just don't trust them functioning in a law enforcement primary capacity without strict laws in place; laws that have been both agreed upon by the citizens and approved by the courts. The people are not ready for this. Unfortunately the people in states like NY and NJ don't have a say.

No matter the outcome of these series of incidents, the people will take pause and that's all I ask for. Paranoia is when I believe "they" are coming after me; I only believe "they" are coming after "us." If you can't tell by now there is a war against the public going on....maybe it just has to hit home before you say "this doesn't feel right." There's still time for that but not long.

Just wait until the real copycats come out to play; they are taking too long to resolve this. I fear the final answer will be "while we aren't sure what is happening, we know it isn't bad." It doesn't matter what the drone is doing, it only matters who is the pilot.

There are House hearings; DJI is mentioned in the first 5 minutes; check it out here:

Thread 'House committee holds hearing on risks of flying drones'

Dec 10, 2024

Drones are now the cause of anything they can think of.

MS Coast · Dec 10, 2024

mavic3usa said:
No matter the outcome of these series of incidents, the people will take pause and that's all I ask for. Paranoia is when I believe "they" are coming after me; I only believe "they" are coming after "us." If you can't tell by now there is a war against the public going on....maybe it just has to hit home before you say "this doesn't feel right." There's still time for that but not long.

Paranoia occurs with plural subjects, too. The several ongoing discussions of the harmless flashing lights in the NJ sky are rife with examples.

Chip · Dec 10, 2024

mavic3usa said:
I hope the citizens learn this is what it will "feel" like should they allow the local city government to deploy drones in an official law enforcement capacity in their town. Drones have lots of good uses and I am happy to see them do more; however, I just don't trust them functioning in a law enforcement primary capacity without strict laws in place; laws that have been both agreed upon by the citizens and approved by the courts. The people are not ready for this. Unfortunately the people in states like NY and NJ don't have a say.

No matter the outcome of these series of incidents, the people will take pause and that's all I ask for. Paranoia is when I believe "they" are coming after me; I only believe "they" are coming after "us." If you can't tell by now there is a war against the public going on....maybe it just has to hit home before you say "this doesn't feel right." There's still time for that but not long.

Just wait until the real copycats come out to play; they are taking too long to resolve this. I fear the final answer will be "while we aren't sure what is happening, we know it isn't bad." It doesn't matter what the drone is doing, it only matters who is the pilot.

There are House hearings; DJI is mentioned in the first 5 minutes:

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I jumped into Part 1 of the hearing and listened to NY Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis and NJ State Senator Bob Smith ask questions of the FBI. Malliotakis and Smith begged for information to share with very concerned constituents in NY and NJ. Senator Smith said he had himself witnessed a huge pack of drones flying into New Jersey from the ocean. They were begging the FBI for information but the FBI has none to give to the US Congress or to the American people at this time.

AMann · Dec 10, 2024

“I would not be surprised if it was also a black flag inside job to get support for banning all non-domestic drones from the US”.

really??

mavic3usa · Dec 10, 2024

For sure there are lots of people who are mistaken and uniformed and seeing things; it gets like that when an unexplained situation is allowed to fester and people are free to express. However, *everybody* can't be wrong or way off base. Either way I just find it unacceptable that no concrete or definitive information is forthcoming and the people are allowed to believe what is happening is a-ok for them not to know anything about it or be able to understand it. There are literally people who believe the secrecy is for their own good. If that's the case, if your government is not required to tell you whatever you reasonably should have a right to know when it starts to impact you, just remember that when your DJI chinese drones are told they are spying on you and they're manufactured by prisoners. Just remember that when your government tells you that you don't deserve an explanation and you should just take their word for it....If you can't demand answer about UFOs then you can't demand answers about government secret on China.

If these "drones" were flying over military bases only, if these drones came and then went away as quickly as they showed up....., if these drones were hidden from view, can't be seen or heard....I get that. It's going to be a sad day if this situation is determined to potentially "hostile" with people left wondering what took so long or why weren't they told sooner. By hostile I mean your privacy details were collected or the drones could have been armed but were not. Even if it's a prank or it's just ordinary aircraft, cannot a single responsible person of authority pull together a convincing case and show it to the people as a nothing burger? Just make a 5-minute appearance on the news, state the case, and leave it. I don't live anywhere near NJ but are they waiting for me to come there and see it with my own eyes? People are going to eventually get tired of this and then it's going to turn ugly, trust me. Meaning no one enjoys being pranked or hoodwinked or gaslighted like this so relentlessly. Fingerprinting and name-calling starts and politics start to creep in. At this point, the only real answer that will pass scrutiny is "we have no idea" because anything else is going to be met with hostility at this late stage.

The more people that start to learn nothing was done about this because the laws don't permit other than federal action and everyone will claim their hands were tied, here comes those new laws I warned about few months ago.

Myetkt · Dec 10, 2024

I don't live anywhere near NJ but are they waiting for me to come there and see it with my own eyes?

Yes, I’m sure that’s what’s happening. Everyone is saying, just wait till Mr Mavic-USA gets here.

Erk1024 · Dec 10, 2024

Some of these "drone sightings" are definitely planes. One video I saw, there is a red light on one side, a green on the other and a strobe in between. You could hear the prop in the background. That was a Cessna single engine aircraft. You've all heard that prop sound a thousand times.

Another video had the same lights AND the landing lights. In the glare of the landing lights, *you could see the jet engines*. This is a commercial jet liner coming in for a landing. That's a plane.

Almost all of these videos show a green light on one side, and a red light on the other, plus landing lights and strobes. These are just aircraft and active imaginations. Some people have never looked up at night. And it's notoriously hard to determine the scale and speed of things that are high in the sky. Aircraft always look like they are going slow from a distance.

So answer me this: why would someone trying to "spy" or fly a stealth "drone" have aircraft running lights and a strobe?!

This is *terrible* for us because it's getting everybody freaked out about these supposed "drones" that are probably just regular air traffic.

Erk1024 · Dec 10, 2024

In the video that @mavic3usa posted, they showed a picture of the constellation of Orion--not sure what that's proof of.

This is almost certainly a police helicopter with a spotlight.

Erk1024 · Dec 10, 2024

In this video at 3:31, if you watch it *you can see the shape of the helicopter* in one of the video frames. This is a normal helicopter, not a drone. You can see the shape clearly in the video.

Chip · Dec 11, 2024

Erk1024 said:
Some of these "drone sightings" are definitely planes. One video I saw, there is a red light on one side, a green on the other and a strobe in between. You could hear the prop in the background. That was a Cessna single engine aircraft. You've all heard that prop sound a thousand times.

Another video had the same lights AND the landing lights. In the glare of the landing lights, *you could see the jet engines*. This is a commercial jet liner coming in for a landing. That's a plane.

Almost all of these videos show a green light on one side, and a red light on the other, plus landing lights and strobes. These are just aircraft and active imaginations. Some people have never looked up at night. And it's notoriously hard to determine the scale and speed of things that are high in the sky. Aircraft always look like they are going slow from a distance.

So answer me this: why would someone trying to "spy" or fly a stealth "drone" have aircraft running lights and a strobe?!

This is *terrible* for us because it's getting everybody freaked out about these supposed "drones" that are probably just regular air traffic.

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You make good points. There probably are mistaken sightings. But I do not think they could explain all or even a significant number of the sightings by credible witnesses including state and local law enforcement and government officials. I was blown away today when I heard a NJ state senator testify before Congress today that he and a local sheriff observed a large group of drones fly into New Jersey from the ocean. He was begging the FBI official for information of who is behind this but the FBI had nothing for him or the country.

So answer me this: why would someone trying to "spy" or fly a stealth "drone" have aircraft running lights and a strobe?

If an adversary, maybe to probe defenses and observe responses to airspace incursions? If a US government agency, maybe to condition the public to accept an immediate "new normal" under guise of national security.