U.S. Representative Jefferson Van Drew (R-NJ 2nd District) today called for shooting down the drones that have been flying over New Jersey and parts of New York, claiming he has “credible evidence” they are being launched and operated from an Iranian “mother ship” off the East Coast. Presumably, he is referring to the Shahid Bagheri, a converted container ship drone carrier that was reported to have likely left its port in Iran as of November 28. Its current whereabouts are unclear.
Last thing we need is more worthless flight restrictions. The ones we have now do nothing but snag innocent unsuspecting pilots, not terrorist threats. All it would take is to just follow these drones to their source to figure out what is going on, or is that too easy and logical a step to take? The batteries that power these drones can’t last very long.
Some of the pics I saw of 'em clearly show a red position light on the right and a green position light on the left plus a strobe. What adversary would be dumb enough to fly intelligence gathering drones with lights ON ???
There’s GOT to be more to this story.
Regardless of whether these drones are a threat, this whole incident has prooven to the rest of the world that the US is incapable of tracking or identifying a drone threat in our own airspace.
No. The time to act to people safe was a years ago. The threat that UAS (any size) can pose to the public was known then and is known now. It’s only a matter of time before the worst happens.
Aren’t there already rules in law about use of UAVs in the US?
Aren’t there US government agencies responsible for protecting people in the US?
Protection against initiation of force is essential - need actual work not do-gooder rules/laws. (Case in point: attempted assassination of Donald Trump, policing authorities failed.)
There was discussion of need at the time of the Communist Chinese ‘weather balloon’ crossing the US. Albeit there was the question of whether or not NORAD people were paying attention to the area it came in through - Aleutians, which are south of AK mainland. (It went into Canada, turned south with the jetstream and crossed border into ID or nearby).
While the claims are hysterical one does have to stop and think the issue is still valid. You aren’t going to “shoot” down a tiny drone with air-to-air or even ground-to-air weapons without the people and property beneath suffering some consequences. Better to figure out how to control and police drone activity before something really evil does take place.
OMG!!! Lions and tigers and bears!!! Not sure of the intelligence value of info from drones over shipping ports.
I fully understand the concern for spectator safety, assuming someone can actually prove a threat, but consider the prospect of shooting down drones over stadiums offers a whole new field of entertainment and betting opportunities. Looks like great new income stream.
If the DOD is not concerned then they know what they are. Donning my tin-foil hat I suspect they are sniffing for a dirty bomb or an actual nuke planted by an adversary. Sum of all Fears scenario. If the drones are as big as they say, then I think they are probably helicopters with the appropriate detection equipment.
“Proposed new regulations would expand federal authority over protecting airports and other critical infrastructure sites such as……
No TFRs have been reported as violated. No restricted or prohibited airspace has been reported as violated. No CFR or FARs have been reported as violated. No law, rule or statute has been reported as violated.
So we need new regulations because an aircraft is operating legally?
Don’t you know?
The government, and another regulation, are ALWAYS the solution to anything someone doesn’t understand.
If they don’t know, they’ve been conditioned to ‘know’ it’s some eeevil conspiracy.