Pentagon confirms unauthorized drone ‘incursions’ over airbase

The Pentagon last year confirmed a number of “unauthorized” drone flights in restricted airspace above a Virginia base that houses the nation’s most advanced fighter jets.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that for 17 days in December, a fleet of unidentified aircraft flew over Langley Air Force Base as well as the area that includes Navy SEAL Team Six home base and the Norfolk Naval Base, the largest naval port in the world. .

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed Tuesday that Langley “was subject to unauthorized unmanned aerial system incursions last year, in December 2023.”

She said the number of these unmanned aerial system (UAS) incursions fluctuates from day to day, but does not appear to demonstrate any hostile intent.

“It’s something that we’ve been keeping a close eye on, but I just don’t have more to provide on that,” Singh told reporters.

When asked why the drones had not been shot down, she said that any commander at any base has the authority to protect the forces, installations, infrastructure and capabilities there.

“I know that with all of these incursions, given that they are taking place on American soil, there is another level of coordination within agencies that needs to take place. But the commander absolutely had his powers to engage any system that posed a threat to the base,” Singh said.

Objects flying in restricted airspace have worried national security officials, with the most notable case occurring early last year when a Chinese spy balloon flew over the United States for a week before before the American army shot it down off the coast of Carolina.

Last October, five drones flew over a government site used for nuclear experiments for three days. The Nevada Department of Energy’s national security site outside Las Vegas detected the drones but did not know who was operating them, the Journal reported.

And U.S. officials confirmed to the Journal this month that swarms of unidentified drones had been spotted in recent months near Edwards Air Force Base, California, north of Los Angeles.

The incursions into Langley, home to the F-22 Raptors, would take place approximately 45 minutes to an hour after sunset. Officials estimated that at least a dozen drones measuring about 20 feet long maintained an altitude of about 3,000 to 4,000 feet while flying over the base, according to the news outlet.

Authorities did not know who was using the planes but did not shoot them down because federal law prohibits U.S. forces from shooting down drones near military bases in the country unless they pose an imminent threat.

The Pentagon forwarded the drone reports to the White House, and for two weeks, officials from the Defense Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation consulted with each other and experts to determine who was responsible and how to respond, the Pentagon reported. Newspaper.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, then head of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, told the Journal that the incidents over Langley were unlike anything seen before. he had seen in the past.

VanHerck ordered fighter jets and other aircraft to try flying near the drones to learn more about them and also recommended that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin authorize wiretapping.

Because the drones flew in a pattern and some did not use the usual frequency band available to commercial off-the-shelf UAS, U.S. officials did not believe amateurs were flying them.

The incursions led Langley officials to cancel nighttime training missions and move the F-22s to another base. The drones last visited the base on December 23.

Authorities had no leads until Jan. 6, when a Chinese national, Fengyun Shi, stuck his drone in a tree about 11 miles from the Langley base and outside a shipyard run by Huntington Ingalls Industries. The company builds nuclear submarines and the Navy’s new aircraft carrier.

Shi, a student at the University of Minnesota, ditched the drone, took an Amtrak train to Washington, D.C., and flew to Oakland, Calif., the next day. The FBI investigated the drone and discovered it was photographing Navy ships, with some shots taken around midnight.

Federal agents arrested Shi on Jan. 18 as he prepared to board a one-way flight to China, although he told agents he was just a ship enthusiast. Investigators were unable to connect him to the Chinese government, and he was charged with illegally taking photos of classified naval installations and sentenced to six months in federal prison.

U.S. officials still have not determined who was piloting the Langley drones.

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