Topic
Encounters reported by pilots, radar crews and base personnel, from the 1950s to today. 141 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Military9 Mar 2026
Barksdale Air Force Base, home of B-52 bombers, sheltered in place on March 9, 2026 after a drone report. The 2nd Bomb Wing confirmed multiple unauthorized drones that week, and an internal briefing reported by ABC News described waves of 12 to 15 drones. Operators were not identified.
Photo: Airman 1st Class Benjamin Gonsier, Public domain
Military2 Feb 2026
The UK Ministry of Defence said drone incidents near defence sites doubled to 266 in 2025 and that the Armed Forces Bill would let authorised personnel counter drones there without police help. The plan was first reported in October 2025.
Photo: Tagishsimon, CC BY-SA 3.0
Military21 Nov 2025
The Dutch Ministry of Defence said unidentified drones were seen over Volkel Air Base between 7 and 9 p.m. and personnel fired at them with ground-based weapons. The drones left and no wreckage was found. Drone sightings halted flights at Eindhoven the next evening.
Photo: Ministerie van Defensie, CC0
Military1 Nov 2025
Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken said drones flew over Kleine-Brogel air base, widely reported to store U.S. nuclear weapons, over the nights of Nov. 1-2, 2025. A jammer failed and pursuers lost a drone. He called it a likely spy operation but named no one responsible.
Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Joshua Dewberry, Public domain
Military3 Oct 2025
Belgian broadcaster VRT reported that 15 drones flew over the Elsenborn army camp around 1:45 a.m. and were also seen by police in Dueren, Germany. Defence Minister Theo Francken's office confirmed an investigation; who flew them was not known.
Photo: Unknown photographer, Public domain
Military27 Sep 2025
Norway's Armed Forces and police reported two possible drones near Orland, home of the air force's F-35s, early on Sept. 27, 2025. Police, PST and the military investigated and set a 10 km no-fly zone; police said it was too early to say what was seen.
Photo: yetdark from Hamburg, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military26 Sep 2025
Der Spiegel reported drones over Kiel's ThyssenKrupp submarine yard and harbor and the Heide refinery around Sept. 26, 2025. Schleswig-Holstein's premier said the flights aimed to unsettle. Who flew them was not established.
Photo: Marco Kuntzsch, CC BY-SA 3.0
Military25 Sep 2025
Danish Defence said drones had been observed at several military sites, including Skrydstrup Air Base, home to Denmark's F-16s and F-35s. A revised military report in 2026 conceded soldiers who fired at a suspected drone there may have fired while a civilian aircraft passed.
Photo: Beethoven9, CC BY-SA 4.0
Military13 Sep 2025
Romania's defence ministry said a Russian Geran drone entered its airspace near the Ukrainian border for about 50 minutes. Two F-16s intercepted it and were cleared to fire, but held off over collateral risk.
Photo: Footage courtesy of NATO's Allied Air Command, Public domain
Military10 Sep 2025
During a Russian attack on Ukraine, drones crossed into Poland overnight; Prime Minister Donald Tusk said 19 entered and that Polish and allied aircraft shot down three or four. Poland invoked NATO's Article 4, opening consultations with its allies.
Military28 Aug 2025
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the Army secretary to establish Joint Interagency Task Force 401, reporting to the deputy secretary, to speed counter-small-drone capabilities and protect personnel and facilities at home and abroad.
Photo: David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military13 Feb 2025
At a Senate Armed Services posture hearing, Gen. Gregory Guillot of U.S. Northern Command said 350 drone detections were reported on military installations the year before, across about 100 installations, and that he saw surveillance of sensitive capabilities as the main threat.
Photo: U.S. Air Force, Public domain
MilitaryJan 2025
German press, citing a classified Bundeswehr report, said professional drones of unknown origin hovered over the Schwesing air defence base near Husum in six incidents from Jan. 9 to 29, 2025. Jammers failed to force them down and no operators were found; espionage was suspected but unproven.
Military13 Dec 2024
Naval Weapons Station Earle's public affairs officer confirmed multiple instances of unidentified drones entering the base's airspace during the New Jersey sightings wave. The base said no direct threat had been identified and did not say when the incursions happened.
Photo: Szeremeta, CC BY 4.0
Military13 Dec 2024
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio closed its airspace for about four hours after small drones were seen near and over the base late on Dec. 13, 2024. The 88th Air Base Wing said they did not affect base residents, facilities or assets. It came amid a wave of drone reports in several states.
Photo: Nyttend, Public domain
Military12 Dec 2024
A spokesperson for Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst said no drone incursions had been identified during the New Jersey sightings. The Air Force later said the base's 2024 drone incidents involved contraband deliveries to the federal prison on base, the latest in September.
Photo: Famartin, CC BY-SA 3.0
Military5 Dec 2024
The Defense Department announced that Secretary Lloyd Austin had signed a classified strategy for countering unmanned systems, releasing only an unclassified fact sheet. Officials called drones an urgent threat to U.S. forces overseas and increasingly at home.
Photo: Chad J. McNeeley, U.S. Department of Defense, Public domain
MilitaryDec 2024
Drones of varying size were reported around the U.S. Air Force's Ramstein Air Base in early December 2024, and an Air Force spokesperson confirmed the sightings. The base said it would monitor the airspace with German authorities. Police were then probing similar reports at Bavarian bases.
Photo: Beowulf Tomek, CC BY-SA 4.0
Military26 Nov 2024
U.S. Air Forces in Europe said small drones of varying size and number had been seen near and over RAF Lakenheath, Mildenhall and Feltwell since Nov. 20, and its update added RAF Fairford in southwest England. It said none affected base residents, facilities or assets.
Photo: Chris, CC BY-SA 2.0
Military30 Oct 2024
At a September 2025 House Oversight hearing, Rep. Eric Burlison played a video he said was taken on October 30, 2024 by an MQ-9 tracking an orb off Yemen as another MQ-9 fired a Hellfire missile that appeared to strike it. The video's source was not officially authenticated at the hearing.
Photo: House Creative Services, Public domain
