By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-21 19:50:39 | Updated at 2024-12-22 07:04:00
11 hours ago
There are some very irate Coast Guardsmen down in Barnegat Light, New Jersey.
Federal officials have shrugged off accounts from U.S. Coast Guard members that their 47-foot-long rescue vessel was trailed by a fleet of 12 to 30 drones while patrolling the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month — and that’s not sitting well with the sailors who witnessed the mystery swarm.
“It’s the implication that’s insulting,” said the Coast Guard member, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It’s implying we’re making sh-t up, when the ones making up sh-t are down in Washington, D.C.”
The sailor spoke to The Post days after the FAA imposed temporary flight restrictions over parts of New Jersey and New York. He said he was one of the 12 crewmembers on the boat that night.
“We were actually out there to see if we could spot any drones, because of all these sightings,” he explained. “Well, we found some drones. Or more accurately, they found us.”
The drones “appeared out of nowhere” at about 9 p.m., and followed the boat for approximately 15 minutes, he said. When the vessel shifted course, so too did the drones.
“I’m terrible with measurements, but [the swarm] was about 80 to 100 feet above us. They had four propellers. Seven feet across. The flashing lights, like you’ve seen. The festive green, red, and white lights.”
The drone swarm kept pace with the Department of Homeland Security vessel, which was cruising at “around 20 knots, which is just over 20 miles an hour.”
The Guardian said the drones eventually climbed “maybe another 100 feet” and then “banked left, towards the shoreline” and out of sight.
“Commercial airplanes don’t move like that,” he said. “I’ve been out there [on the water] when planes were coming in for landings in New York, and trust me, you can tell the difference. We’re not idiots, we know what drones look and sound like.”
White House spokesman John Kirby recently dismissed the Coast Guard’s account of being followed by the gaggle of unmanned drones.
Kirby told reporters Monday that the drones hovering over the Garden State are a “combination” of personal, professional, and governmental aircraft.
“We assess that the sightings to date include a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and even stars that were mistakenly reported as drones,” Kirby said.
Do you have footage of drones over the skies of New Jersey or New York? Send it to The Post at drones@nypost.com.
“We have not identified anything anomalous or any national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the Northeast. The work continues,” Kirby went on.
Kirby said the Coast Guard likely mistook incoming airliners for drones and said the government confirmed forensically the encounter did not involve drones.
“Right,” the Guardsman told The Post. “I can’t pretend to know what’s going on [with the drone activity over the area], because I don’t. But they weren’t the types of drones you can buy at the store. These were government drones.”
“I don’t care what Kirby or [DHS head Alejandro] Mayorkas say,” he added, “they’re full of sh-t.”
Their orders were to observe, not interact with any drones, he noted.
“But if [the drone swarm] fired at us or engaged us in any way, we would’ve fired back,” he said.
Federal authorities have faced backlash from local officials, including Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), for the lack of a concrete explanation for the sudden phenomenon.
Simultaneously, federal officials have long maintained that drones pose no threat to national security.
More than 1,000 drones have been spotted above New Jersey since Nov. 18, with dozens of others reported in New York’s airspace.
