Title says it all. I see a lot of chatter, but what’s going on?
Probably a new weapons system test. Maybe surviellance related.
It is divisive propaganda. Probably.
The US Government has said the drone sightings are not a hazard to air traffic nor do they pose a threat to national security. Many of the drones have been sighted around military installations and equipment which, given their “no-threat” official position they probably know what they are and either can’t or won’t say.
Based on the drone’s size (larger than some small manned aircraft flown by citizen pilots), observable flight time (2+ hours), altitude (above 400ft/~120m), and the number of them, they are almost certainly a registered and monitored commercial drone or a defense contractor test.
It’s likely propaganda because of it’s timing to the CEO shooting and the way in which the state(s), federal government, and media have been responding. A US senator claimed that they were from an “Iranian Mothership” off the coast of the United States. Governors have been giving the public’s curiosity an official voice. The (social) media has been amplifying the story because those companies have CEO’s who also have made their fortunes on screwing over regular folks.
I imagine from a certain perspective this all might sound like the conspiracy nut has stopped taking her meds, but it’s much more banal than that. Civil unrest is not good to maintain the status quo which is what governments and media organizations are (broadly) designed to do. Most of their efforts are not malicious; they’re really just trying to keep the peace.
tl;dr The drones are a distraction from the growing civil unrest for the subset of the population that is fantasy prone to get distracted by.
edit: My knowledge of aviation law seems to have been largely wrong. A response to this comment clarifies the rules and regulations regarding drones. Based on the information they shared, I still think the parts of the government that care about our airspace would be aware of craft the size and altitude of the drones sighted.
It’s also important to note that any aircraft above that ceiling would be on normal air traffic control screens and need to be licensed with the FAA (maybe there is an aviation nerd who could expand on or correct that)
Not really a “nerd” but:
In the USA:
Drones are not allowed more than 400 feet above ground level (you can increase altitude if the land starts going higher like on a mountain)
Drones can go more than 400 feet above ground level if you have a (part 107) license and is within 400 feet of a man made structure, up to 400 feet above the manmade structure. (Eg: You can fly 1000 ft if you are within 400 feet of a building and the building is 600 ft high, and you have a (part 107) license; 600 ft building height + 400 ft additional high you can go above = 1000 ft total limit).
Drones that fly within 5 miles of an airport require a LAANC approval (can be done online or via an app). Before the LAANC system existed, you used to not be able to legally fly drones anywhere within 5 miles of an airport (I mean, you could always do illegal flights, I’m sure some people did that).
Drones under 250 grams are not required to be registered nor require a license. (For recreational purposes) However, even for recreational purposes, you are supposed to take a “TRUST” certificate/test that basically is a “I Read The Rules” certificate that they don’t really keep track of.
Drones 250 grams or above require a registration that cost like $5 to do online. You’ll have to give them any serial numbers. And also mark the drone with a registration number that they give you. And again, if this is recreational only, you still don’t need a license, just register and have fun. (But the “TRUST” certificate is still a thing that you’re supposed to have)
If you use drones for any “commercial” purposes, regardless of the weight of drone you also need to register the drone, and also you need a (part 107) license when operating for commercial purposes. This includes using it for roof inspection for a company, or even for youtube videos that are monetized.
Also recent regulations require there to be a “Remote ID” system for drones that requires registration (basically drones under 250 grams that are used recreationally are exempt). This actively broadcasts a signal via bluetooth that authorities (or karens) can scan and would show the location it took off and the location where the remote is located.
Authorities probably could already do that before remote ID, but this just make it easier and more accurate.
Most manufacturers already have remote ID system added to new drones above 250 grams, and some manufacturers do not even allow you to disable it.
But for drones under 250 grams, manufacturers don’t bother with it, since its not required.
[Btw, I don’t think many people really care about FAA rules. They have this rule called “Line of Sight” rules basically you can’t fly further than your eyes can see it. Go on r/drones on reddit and basically nobody on that community follow this stupid rule. Aint nobody registering their toy drone lmao]
I wish I had more upvotes for you. Thank you for the clarification. I’ll edit my post to reflect that so as not to accidentally spread misinformation
Also, something I just remembered, the FAA has authority over all air space. If they really wanted to stop whatever is going on, they could just announce a new rule on tv and say “Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for all US airspaces effective [Date for Tomorrow] and lasts indefinitely” then start arresting people for TFR violations, they always do this whenecer the president and presidential candidates are moving around, this seems very likely its some military test flights. Theres no way they haven’t just ordered the FAA to impose restrictions if this is anything else.
My Guesses:
-
Military or Military Contractors that are testing new drones systems. Why they are testing in populated areas? Perhaps they are testing a new system to identify human targets (obviously they aren’t gonna be shooting civillians in New Jersey, they are just testing the system that allows them to identify humans)
-
A bunch of idiots drone hobbists that thought it was funny to mess around in restricted air spaces.
-
Government agents pretending to be civillians flying into restricted airspaces so the government has an excuse to say “Drones Bad. Lets Ban Drones.” Basically agent provocateurs but instead of protests, its drones.
-
It could also be that people are misidentifying planes and other manned aircraft as “drones”.
I mean, seriously, if this was aliens or foreign military, they be shot down by now, and the streets would be swarmed with National Guard or Military.
I don’t see reports of a mass presence of National Guard or Military, so it’s unlikely to be “Aliens” or “Foreign Military” operations.
My theory is related to your #1, but I’m guessing that the military is testing the detection capability of their systems. It would explain why the sightings have been all over the place. They are basically sending them out to fly in various different patterns from different approach vectors (“coming in from the ocean”) to ensure that the radar and likely more sophisticated drone-specific hardware can detect them. It would also account for why there have been such a variety of reports of different sizes and characteristics of the drones (the credible ones, not the people filming airplanes).
I think the success of drones in the Ukraine conflict has accelerated the concerns of the military and DHS, and they felt the need to accelerate the install/upgrade/test of their defenses.
The media and governments attempt at districting us from Luigi the working class hero
They’re probably trying to ban drones before regular people realize that they can be used to drop things on the elite.
I’m not advocating that anyone do that. I’m just saying it’s been proven to be a very successful tactic in Ukraine. And apparently arms are being attached to drones by the IDF. So that’s a thing too. But don’t do that either.
This is how you get RFID
EDIT: Remote ID
Clones drunk guy at a bar’s RFID chip with the flipper to steal his identity
Writes cat’s microchip data over my own implant for lolz
At least somebody will be alerted about his kidneys when the cat goes missing and shows up at another vet
That’s not the way RFID works, it’s an old tech only capable of sending it’s code which remains static. The chip gets read and the # is cross referenced with one of 4 or so databases the vet has access to, who then calls you and says “hey we found your cat.”
So basically if I did that and got lost, my vet could call me and tell me they found my cat (which is me), but to know anything about anyone’s kidneys they need a urinalysis.