Drone Fleet Breaches U.S. Military Airspace for 17 Days Near Key Bases

UPDATED 10/30/24 – For 17 consecutive nights, a fleet of mysterious drones invaded the restricted airspace over Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, one of America’s most vital military installations. This series of incursions, which started in early December, left military personnel and commanders baffled as they observed these drones zooming across the sky without any deterrent, prompting serious national security concerns.


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Langley Air Force Base, home to some of the most advanced military assets in the United States, found itself in the crosshairs of this unknown drone squadron. Despite the base’s state-of-the-art defenses, military personnel watched as the drones continued to breach restricted airspace every night.

The drones even flew near other highly sensitive military locations, including the Navy SEAL Team Six headquarters and Naval Station Norfolk, the largest naval base in the world. Yet, no action was taken to stop them.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the drone activity began about 45 minutes after sunset and lasted several hours each night. U.S. Air Force General Mark Kelly, a highly experienced fighter pilot, witnessed the bizarre events firsthand.

In one of the first breaches, Kelly described seeing a drone approximately 20 feet long, flying at over 100 miles per hour at an altitude of around 3,000 to 4,000 feet. One by one, other drones followed in its path, making a sound described by some as resembling lawnmowers buzzing in the distance.

As the drones crossed over Chesapeake Bay and moved south towards Naval Station Norfolk, military officials were left scratching their heads. The drones appeared to be sophisticated, capable of operating in restricted airspace with precision. But the big question remained: who was controlling them?

Some experts speculated that the drones could be the work of foreign adversaries such as Russia or China, testing U.S. military responses. Others believed that they might belong to highly skilled hobbyists who were unaware of the serious nature of their actions. However, the fact that these drones targeted some of the most sensitive military zones in the U.S. raised alarms about potential espionage or intelligence-gathering operations.

Federal law prohibits the military from shooting down drones near U.S. bases unless they pose an imminent threat, making aerial surveillance a legal grey area. As a result, no action was taken to intercept or disable the drones, even though they repeatedly flew over crucial military sites.

Local law enforcement in Hampton, Virginia, even attempted to chase the drones on foot and by patrol car. However, despite multiple sightings and brief moments when the drones seemed to land, they always took off again before officers could reach them. The pursuit, which seemed more like a game than a serious security response, ended without results. The mysterious drones continued their flights undeterred until December 23rd, when the activity finally stopped after 17 days.

The question of who was behind the drone incursions remains unresolved. In January, a Chinese national named Fengyun Shi was arrested for flying a drone near classified naval installations in Virginia. While this incident raised suspicions, no direct link between Shi and the Langley drone swarm has been confirmed.

Shi claimed that he was simply a “ship enthusiast” and did not realize his drone had flown into restricted airspace. He was sentenced to six months in prison, but whether he played a role in the broader drone activity remains unclear.

Adding to the mystery, just months before the Langley incidents, five drones reportedly breached airspace over a nuclear weapons testing site in Nevada. Four of the drones were detected by the Energy Department’s Nevada National Security Site, and the fifth was spotted by ground employees. Despite upgrading detection systems, officials have yet to identify who was behind that breach, either.

The unexplained drone activity over Langley and other military installations raises serious questions about U.S. airspace security and the potential threats posed by drone technology.

Whether these events were the work of foreign adversaries or rogue hobbyists, they highlight significant gaps in the U.S. military’s ability to protect its most sensitive assets from aerial surveillance.

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