On the evening of Thursday, December 12th, following sightings of mysterious unmanned drones in sensitive areas such as New Jersey, several drones were spotted in the skies above Connecticut in the United States. Local senators have called for these mysterious drones to be shot down if necessary. It is currently unclear who owns these drones.
According to a report by Fox News, a social media user on Platform X claimed to have captured footage of drones flying over Fairfield, Connecticut, about 55 miles away from New York City.
The user mentioned that the video she captured showed at least five drones flying over Fairfield train station.
In the video, she said, “They flew one after another at different altitudes. My husband has a drone. They wouldn’t fly that far or that quietly.”
She suggested that these aircraft could also be drones belonging to hobbyists.
Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal stated on Thursday: “We should conduct an emergency intelligence analysis and drive them out from the airspace, especially when they fly over airports or military bases.”
Blumenthal expressed concerns that people in the New York area worry that these drones may share airspace with commercial airlines, and he urged the Biden administration to be more transparent on this issue.
The White House remarked on Thursday that a review of reported sightings indicated that many of these incidents actually involved legally flying manned aircraft.
White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby stated that there were no reported drone sightings in restricted airspace and no foreign vessels detected along the coast by the United States Coast Guard.
Kirby said, “Currently, we have no evidence to suggest that reported drone sightings pose a threat to national security or public safety, or are related to foreign entities.”
Pentagon spokesperson Singh clarified that these drones were not U.S. military drones.
In a joint statement released on Thursday afternoon, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security mentioned that they were closely coordinating with the New Jersey State Police, continuing to deploy personnel and technology to investigate the situation and confirming whether the reported drone flights were indeed drones or possibly manned aircraft or other inaccurately reported sightings.
These agencies stated that no reported sightings of drones had been electronically detected in restricted airspace, and a review of existing imagery indicated that many of the reported drones appeared to be manned aircraft.
The statement read, “There have been no reported or confirmed drone sightings in restricted airspace.”
A state legislator who attended a briefing by the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday stated that these drones seemed capable of evading traditional detection methods such as helicopters and radios.
While sightings of drones have increased in recent days, officials noted that many objects may be aircraft rather than drones, and it is also possible that the same drone has been reported multiple times.
Concerns over drones are partly fueled by the fact that these flying objects were initially found near the Picatinny Arsenal, a military research and manufacturing facility, as well as over a golf course owned by former President Donald Trump.
(Reference: The Associated Press)