Cases and themes
Unidentified drones over bases, ships and towns, including the 2024 New Jersey reports. 92 events, newest first.
Government28 Jan 2025
At the first press briefing of President Trump's second term, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the drones seen over New Jersey were authorized by the FAA for research and other reasons, with many flown by hobbyists. She gave no details on who operated them.
Photo: The White House, Public domain
Sightings9 Jan 2025
A drone flown from a Santa Monica parking structure into a flight restriction zone hit a Quebec-owned Super Scooper fighting the Palisades Fire, leaving a hole in its left wing and taking it out of service. After an FBI investigation the operator agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor.
Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation, 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.
Government23 Dec 2024
The FY2025 defense bill became Public Law 118-159. Its intelligence division has a UAP title ordering a Government Accountability Office review of AARO and sunsetting audit requirements for AARO's historical report; the bill also has AARO liaise with a new counter-drone task force.
Photo: U. S. Department of Defense, All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, Public domain
Government21 Dec 2024
The American Relief Act, 2025, a stopgap spending law approved Dec. 21, 2024, extended DHS and Justice Department authority to counter drones over protected sites from Dec. 20, 2024 to March 14, 2025. Officials had asked Congress for more drone powers during the New Jersey sightings.
Government18 Dec 2024
At the request of federal security partners, the FAA issued 22 temporary flight restrictions barring drones within a nautical mile of critical infrastructure in New Jersey towns, ground to 400 feet, into mid-January. Similar limits covered parts of New York. DHS called it a precaution.
Photo: Chetsford, Public domain
Government16 Dec 2024
DHS, the FBI, FAA and Pentagon said the FBI had received more than 5,000 drone tips, about 100 of which produced leads. They said sightings were lawful drones, manned aircraft, helicopters and stars, that nothing anomalous had been found, and asked Congress for counter-drone powers.
Photo: Chetsford, Public domain
Government15 Dec 2024
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC's This Week that officials knew of no foreign involvement in the Northeast sightings. He said some were real drones and others manned aircraft, linked the rise partly to night-flight rules, and asked Congress for wider powers.
Photo: Zachary Hupp/U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Public domain
Government15 Dec 2024
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Department of Homeland Security to deploy a recently declassified radio-wave tracking system to identify drones reported over New York and New Jersey and their operators, noting state and local police lacked authority to track them.
Photo: U.S. Senate Photographic Studio/Jeff McEvoy, Public domain
Sightings14 Dec 2024
During the Northeast drone flap, Boston police responding to reports of a drone flying dangerously close to Logan Airport found two men on closed Long Island in Boston Harbor with a drone in a backpack. They were charged with trespassing; a third man was not caught.
Photo: David Wilson, CC BY 2.0
Government13 Dec 2024
President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social about drone sightings around the country, asking whether this could happen without the government knowing and saying the drones should be shot down unless officials told the public. Some Republican lawmakers made similar calls.
Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0
Sightings13 Dec 2024
Runways at Stewart International Airport in New York were shut for about an hour after the FAA reported drone activity during the Northeast drone flap. Gov. Kathy Hochul said 'This has gone too far' and sought federal help; the Port Authority said flights were not affected.
Photo: Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0
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
Government13 Dec 2024
Gov. Phil Murphy wrote to President Biden asking for more federal resources to find out what was behind weeks of drone reports over New Jersey, and urged him to keep directing the federal agencies involved to work together until they had answers.
Photo: Montclair Film, CC BY 4.0
Government13 Dec 2024
During the late-2024 New Jersey drone sightings, Rep. Josh Gottheimer urged the FBI and DHS to let state and local police use equipment to safely bring down unauthorized drones, and asked for a public briefing on the reports.
Photo: Kristie Boyd; U.S. House Office of Photography, Public domain
Government12 Dec 2024
At a White House briefing, national security spokesman John Kirby said there was no evidence the New Jersey sightings posed a security or safety threat or had a foreign link. He said many appeared to be lawful manned aircraft and urged Congress to expand counter-drone authority.
Photo: The White House, 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
Government11 Dec 2024
During the New Jersey drone sightings, Rep. Jeff Van Drew said on air that an Iranian 'mothership' off the East Coast was launching the drones. The same day, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said there was no truth to it and no Iranian ship off the U.S. coast.
Photo: Office of Congressman Jeff Van Drew, Public domain
Government11 Dec 2024
Asked about Rep. Jeff Van Drew's claim that an Iranian 'mothership' off the coast was launching the drones seen over New Jersey, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said there was no truth to it and no Iranian ship off the U.S. coast.
Photo: DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando, Public domain
Government11 Dec 2024
Senators Andy Kim, Cory Booker, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand wrote to DHS, the FBI and the FAA asking for an immediate briefing on how they were working with police to identify the source of night drone sightings over New Jersey and New York.
Photo: Chetsford, Public domain
Government11 Dec 2024
After a Homeland Security and state police briefing for New Jersey officials, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia posted that the drones were up to six feet across, sometimes flew unlit and seemed to evade detection. DHS said there was no known threat.
Photo: Marion Touvel, Public domain
Government10 Dec 2024
Rep. Chris Smith wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin about drones flying near sensitive New Jersey sites, including military installations, and asked that all Defense Department counter-drone capabilities, such as those at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, be deployed.
Photo: United States Congress, Public domain
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
Government3 Dec 2024
The FAA confirmed it had issued two temporary flight restrictions at the request of federal security partners after drone reports in New Jersey: one over President-elect Trump's Bedminster golf club, the other over the Army's Picatinny Arsenal, until Dec. 26.
Photo: United States Army Picatinny Arsenal Precision Armaments Laboratory, Public domain
