NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
president-elect Donald Trump wants to create an Iron Dome missile shield over the United States.
But what about the drones fly underneath? “Mysterious drone sightings across the country. Can this really be happening without the knowledge of our government. I don’t think so! Let the public know, and now. Otherwise shoot them!!!” he wrote on Truth Social on Friday.
I completely agree, except please don’t pull out your shotgun and look for a box of shells. It is illegal to interfere with an aircraft in flight, manned or unmanned. Maybe it’s deer season where you live, but unfortunately it is never drone season. Currently, laws even limit the military’s ability to intercept drones in the US
NJ LAWMAKER CALLS FOR LIMITED EMERGENCY STATE TO FIGHT MYSTERIOUS DRONES
America has a drone problem. Some are actually airplanes. Some drones are legal and pose no threat to you and me. Some are flown in by drug cartels delivering fentanyl in San Diego. Gen. Greg Guillot, commander of the US Northern Command, told the Senate that more than 1,000 drones cross the southern border every month. Other drones are owned by the police or the military. Remember, the NYPD did that 110 drone operators qualified by the FAA. I also expect that some drone sightings are related to military experiments and operations.
Map showing some of the places where mysterious drones were spotted in the northeastern US in December 2024. (Fox News)
But without a doubt, the US is vulnerable to a national security threat from drones in a way we have never experienced before. While many U.S. military installations have anti-drone systems, the rest of the country does not have anti-drone systems. A new plan to combat drones in US airspace should be the top priority for President Trump’s incoming administration: Homeland Security, Defense and Transportation, together with the FAA. Find a conference table at Mar-a-Lago and host the top cabinet nominees Kristi Noem, Piet Hegseth And Sean Duffy started now.
What concerns me is the emerging pattern of sightings of multiple drones, operating at low altitudes, with sustained and coordinated overwatch, near military bases and critical infrastructure. Of course, New Jersey has a lot of cool things: the aircraft carrier electromagnetic catapult testing infrastructure, Picatinny Arsenal, Naval Weapons Site Earle, where ammunition is stored and loaded for the Navy’s Atlantic Fleet.
While the New Jersey sightings date back to November 20, drone incidents started years ago. In 2017, an Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter encountered a drone over the runway while landing at Langley AFB in Virginia. Yes, I can see why the Chinese might want a close-up of the engine intakes and the stealth panel seals on them. In California, drones regularly fall inside the fences of the sprawling factories in Palmdale that build top-secret military aircraft such as the B-21 stealth bomber. It’s a collection of surveillance efforts – whether by military aircraft enthusiasts, by the Chinese or by someone else.
“I’m pretty sure some of it is our opponents. Why wouldn’t they?’ Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., commented Break defense at the Reagan National Defense Forum on December 7.
These are my four biggest concerns.
The White House cannot be trusted. It doesn’t feel like this last gasp, Biden, White House, is going to solve the problem. Since the Chinese spy balloon flew from Montana to South Carolina in 2023, Americans have realized that our skies are not always safe.
We are a society with little trust. The lack of transparency is almost worse than with the drones.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS ADVICE
American airspace is not defended against internal threats. At the heart of the drone mystery is a deeply troubling problem: We are not defending the internal airspace of our vast country. That became clear on September 11, when it took 175 Air Force fighter jets launched across the country with their refueling tankers to bring together linked radar coverage and communications domestically. Many improvements have been made, but intercepting the spy balloons in 2023 took effort, and the drone challenge is a whole new chapter.
Senator Blumenthal is seen next to a photo of reported drones in Connecticut. Blumenthal is among lawmakers who have urged action against the UAS.
No one is in charge. This is a job for NORTHCOM, but “at this time NORTHCOM has no formal role in defense against UAS,” Guillot said in March. He “makes proposals to see if there is a bigger role in the UAS fight.” Mind you, NORTHCOM is busy defending against China and Russia in the Far North and improving missile defense on the west coast. The Pentagon signed off on a counter-UAS strategy on December 2 and the FY 2025 defense bill is helping, but much of it is focused on foreign operations.
Putin may be involved. On Friday, German officials confirmed drone operations around the US Ramstein air base. In Britain, drones were spotted flying over Royal Air Force bases, where the US bases F-35s and has nuclear weapons storage facilities. Villagers in Beck Row, Suffolk, were as shocked as those in New Jersey. “They were very loud and had lights. To be honest, they looked official,” villager Casseem Campbell told the BBC on November 29. “You get more information from Facebook than from the base,” complained another resident. Both German and British officials suspect the drones could be part of an ongoing Russian espionage and disruption campaign to weaken NATO support for Ukraine.
I don’t want any Putin drones here. Time for the Trump team to figure this out.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Fortunately, the US is awash in counter-drone systems. The Coyote is a counter-drone missile launched from a tube on a truck or helicopter. The DroneHunter throws a net over drones weighing hundreds of kilos and has been tested in Ukraine. U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopters shot down drones with Hellfire missiles during an exercise in Saudi Arabia this fall. Another great method is to electronically disrupt the drone’s flight control and guidance. The list goes on, but none of it can work without coordinated oversight and renewed command and control authorities.
America’s drone problem boils down to this: leadership. Big decisions need to be made within the first few months of Trump’s new term. Because as New Jersey citizens will agree, we’re running out of time.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM REBECCA GRANT
