TRENTON: A US senator has called for mysterious drones spotted flying over sensitive areas in New Jersey and other parts of the Mid-Atlantic region to be “shot down, if necessary,” as it remains unclear who owns them. “We should be doing some very urgent intelligence analysis and take them out of the skies, especially if they’re flying over airports or military bases,” Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said Thursday as concerns about the drones spread across Capitol Hill.
People in the New York region are also concerned that the drones may be sharing airspace with commercial airlines, he said. “The Biden administration ought to be acting more aggressively against these drones that have been reported. If only to tell the American people who owns them, who’s flying them, what they are. The lack of information is absolutely unacceptable,” said Blumenthal, a fellow Democrat, of the president.
The drones appear to avoid detection by traditional methods such as helicopter and radio, according to a state lawmaker briefed Wednesday by the Department of Homeland Security. Gov Phil Murphy and law enforcement officials have stressed that they don’t appear to threaten public safety. The FBI has been investigating and has asked residents to share any videos, photos or other information they may have.
The number of sightings has increased in recent days, though officials say many of the objects seen may have been planes rather than drones. It’s also possible that a single drone has been reported more than once. The worry stems partly from the flying objects initially being spotted near the Picatinny Arsenal, a US military research and manufacturing facility; and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster.
In a post on the social media platform X, Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia described the drones as up to 6 feet in diameter and sometimes travelling with their lights switched off. Drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use but are subject to local and Federal Aviation Administration regulations and flight restrictions. Operators must be FAA certified.
Most, but not all, of the drones spotted in New Jersey were larger than those typically used by hobbyists. Sen Cory Booker of New Jersey said he was frustrated by the lack of transparency, saying it could help spread fear or misinformation. “We should know what’s going on over our skies,” he said Thursday.
Fantasia, a Morris County Republican, was among several lawmakers who met with state police and Homeland Security officials to discuss the spate of sightings that range from the New York City area through New Jersey and westward into parts of Pennsylvania, including over Philadelphia. Two Republican Jersey Shore-area congressmen, US Reps Chris Smith and Jeff Van Drew, have also called on the military to shoot down the drones.
Smith said a US Coast Guard commanding officer briefed him on an incident over the weekend in which a dozen drones followed a motorised Coast Guard lifeboat “in close pursuit” near Barnegat Light and Island Beach State Park in Ocean County. Coast Guard Lt Luke Pinneo on Wednesday told The Associated Press “that multiple low-altitude aircraft were observed in the vicinity of one of our vessels near Island Beach State Park”.
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