New Jersey is not the only part of the world to experience unexplained sightings of mysterious drones.
Other parts of the U.S. and other nations have reported similar strings of unexplained drone sightings in recent months — including some that had alleged explanations.
In New Jersey, the FBI is investigating at least 3,000 alleged sightings, including many that officials said turned out to be airplanes, federal officials said. Gov. Phil Murphy and law enforcement authorities have repeatedly said the drones do not present a threat to public safety.
In recent days, unexplained drone sightings have spread to neighboring states, including New York and Pennsylvania.
But other states had drones sightings that were later explained. In California, a man was arrested for taking pictures from a drone a mile high over a military installation in Southern California, federal officials said last week.
Other drone sightings, including a recent rash of reports over military bases in England, have not been publicly explained.
Asked if any of the drone sightings in New Jersey were related to sightings elsewhere, a Pentagon spokesperson referred questions to the U.S. Northern Command, which is in charge of Department of Defense homeland defense efforts. Northern Command officials declined to comment on any possible links to drone sightings in other areas. The FBI also declined to comment.
Here are some of the locations of recent drone sightings:
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Santa Barbara County, California
Yinpiao Zhou, 39, of Brentwood, was charged with failing to register an aircraft not providing transportation, and with violating national defense airspace for using a drone to take photos over Vandenberg Space Force Base, the U.S. Justice Department said last week.
Zhou allegedly took photos on the same day a SpaceX rocket launched with a “sensitive payload,” according to the Telegraph, a British news site.
Police arrested Zhou at San Francisco International Airport as he was about to board a plane to China, according to a Justice Department news release. He appeared in federal court in San Francisco last week and remained in custody while prosecutors contested a federal magistrate judge’s decision to release him. He did not immediately enter a plea.
Authorities believe Zhou, a Chinese citizen and lawful permanent U.S. resident, flew a drone for almost an hour over the Space Force base on Nov. 30, setting off the base’s drone detection systems. The drone rose to almost a mile above the ground, although recreational drones are limited to 400 feet, unless they are within 400 feet of a structure.
Zhou was found in nearby Ocean Park, a public area, with a drone concealed in his jacket, according to the prosecutors. With a federal search warrant, investigators allegedly found aerial pictures of the military base in the drone.
Investigators also said they searched Zhou’s phone and found Google search results for “Vandenberg Space Force Base Drone Rules” and messages about how he had hacked his drone to fly unusually high.
If convicted, he faces a maximum of four years in federal prison, the Justice Department said.
British air bases used by the U.S.
Mysterious drone flights began Nov. 20 over or near four English airbases used by U.S. forces, the U.S. Air Force said.
The bases included RAF Lakenheath, home to the 48th Fighter Wing, which the U.S. Air Force describes as the foundation of its combat capability in Europe.
Drones were also spotted over RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell in eastern England as well as RAF Fairford in southwestern England, according to the Associated Press.
“Our units continue to monitor the airspace and are working with host-nation authorities and mission partners to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities and assets,″ U.S. Air Forces Europe said in a statement.
The Air Force said none of the flights “impacted base residents, facilities or assets.” No additional information was provided after updates on the sightings last month.
Air Force Plant 42, Palmdale, California
U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th Dist., mentioned drone incursions over Plant 42, part of Edwards Air Force Base, in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Thursday. She asked Austin “to share what information you can with the public and work to ease fears and concerns amongst the public.”
There were numerous reports in August of unidentified objects flying over Plant 42, northeast of Santa Barbara, according to The War Zone military news site. The military confirmed seeing multiple “uncrewed aerial systems” over the plant in the last few months.
The number of unidentified objects spotted fluctuated and “ranged in size and configuration,” Mary Kozaitis, chief of media operations at Edwards Air Force Base, told the news site. “The FAA was made aware of the incursions and Edwards continues to monitor the air space to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities, and assets.”
Langley Air Force Base, Virginia
Military officials did not believe hobbyists were behind the multiple drones seen over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia during 17 days in December 2023, according to a recent investigation by the Wall Street Journal.
The drones flew in formation and included fixed-wing drones and quadcopters.
A month later, Fengyun Shi, a Chinese student at the University of Minnesota, was caught and later sent to jail for flying his drone over a classified naval installation in nearby Newport News, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Shi’s drone got caught in a tree, and as he was trying to retrieve it, neighbors called the police, the Wall Street Journal report said. When it fell to the ground later, investigators found it had taken nighttime photos of Navy ships.
Shi was sentenced to federal prison for six months for unlawfully taking photos of classified naval installations.
Shi’s attorney, Shaoming Cheng, proclaimed Shi’s innocence. “If he was a foreign agent, he would be the worst spy ever known,” Cheng said.
The military has not made any announcements regarding its investigation into who was responsible for the 17 days of alleged drone flights over Langley. Shi has not been charged in connection with that case.
Colorado and Nebraska
In 2020, there was a rash of unidentified drone reports in nine counties in Colorado and Nebraska in one of the more publicized instances of unexplained objects in the skies.
The Denver Post reached out to the Air Force, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency, the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the University of Colorado Boulder to see if any had initiated the flights. But they all said no.
“We never really got an answer,” Denver Post reporter Sam Tabachnik said Thursday. “They never determined what they were or who was flying them. Eventually the whole thing just petered out.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Tina Kelley may be reached at tkelley@njadvancemedia.com.
