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The crux of the federal investigation mysterious drone sightings in recent weeks it has been centered around the sky New Jersey and New Yorkbut flying objects controlled by unknown operators have become a global phenomenon.
In the US, civil servants they have insisted that the drones do not belong to and are not owned by the US military foreign governments. But as lawmakers and residents aim for more government transparency and answers about what these objects are, the number of places where they have been observed continues to grow.
In New Jersey, two of the sightings that generated the most buzz involved those located in sensitive areas such as Arsenal Picatinnya United States military research and manufacturing facility in Morris County, located in the northeastern part of the state.
President-elect Trump Trump National Golf Clublocated in Bedminster — 40 miles west of New York City — it has also been the site of drone sightings, WJAR reported.
Several drones are seen in Bernardsville, NJ, December 5, 2024 (Brian Glenn/TMX via AP)
New Jersey State Rep Dawn Fantasia (R) wrote in a posting on social networks that the drones detected in their state measured up to 6 feet in diameter and sometimes traveled with their lights off.
Fantasia said the first sightings occurred on Nov. 18 and have continued every night since. Reported sightings usually occur between 6pm and 11pm and reports range from four to 180 sightings per night, he said.
She estimates that there is usually an average of 92 sightings per night, and conservatively, 2,500 sightings have been reported since they started.
Two lawmakers representing the state’s Jersey Shore region reported that a dozen drones were spotted near Barnegat Light i Island Beach State Parkwhich are located in Ocean County. In those cases, WJAR reported that the drones were seen following a US Coast Guard lifeboat.
A Coast Guard spokesman told the company that “multiple low-altitude aircraft” were reported near one of the service’s vessels.
According to the WJAR report, drones are legal in New Jersey for recreational and commercial use. However, they are subject to local and federal Aviation Administration regulations. Drone operators must be certified by the FAA, according to the report.
New Jersey lawmakers included Senator Cory Booker (D), have expressed concern and frustration over the federal government’s lack of transparency on the issue.
“We need to know what’s going on in our skies,” Booker said, according to WJAR.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) said that doesn’t believe drone sightings represent any threat. However, Murphy’s office announced Friday that he did contacted President Biden on concerns about the unmanned aircraft systems in and around the garden state.
In the letter, Murphy wrote that more federal resources should be devoted to the matter since state and local law enforcement in his state is limited to dealing with drones.
Another lawmaker, Sen. Andy Kim (DN.J.), reported seeing drones while on patrol with local law enforcement. Kim said he witnessed white, red and green lights appearing in groups of five to seven at a time.
Kim wrote in a series of publications on social platform X that he knew the lights were not associated with aircraft because the objects did not appear on the FlightAware tracker.
In New York City, residents of the Bronx and Queens have reported seeing several drones, and sightings have been reported at LaGuardia Airport. The New York Daily News reported on Friday.
The New York City Department of Emergency Management shared on X that it has not received any official reports of drone activity, but is aware of reports of sightings near the airport.
The report indicated that the drones took off once police were informed of the scene in the Bronx. Police also reported that the sightings had taken place on Staten Island.
In Maryland, Bowie residents have released videos of drone sightings to local media organizations.
Autumn Stasulli and her family said DC News Now they were outside looking at Christmas lights when they saw flashing red and green lights. He said he saw three to five SUV-sized drones making loud noises.
There were “just drones everywhere,” he added.
Stasulli also noted that military aircraft appeared to be chasing the drones and that he was concerned about where the aircraft may be coming from.
Former Gov. Larry Hogan (R-Md.) reported in a social media post that he witnessed dozens of large drones Thursday night over his home in Davidsonville, Maryland, which is 25 miles outside Washington, D.C. Hogan wrote that the drone activity lasted about 45 minutes.
Residents in Northfield, Minn. — located south of Minneapolis-St. peace — have reported seeing mysterious flashing lights in the night sky.
Deborah Wagner and her daughter he told Fox 9 that the lights were hard to track.
“We started trying to follow them, but they just wouldn’t follow,” Wagner said, adding that the lights seemed to disappear.
Her daughter, Chrissy Grady, tried to capture video of the orbs on her cell phone, and the video showed the objects hovering before disappearing.
“Are these UFOs? Are they the government’s business?” Grady asked.
Similar sightings have been reported in Southern California, where residents saw colorful lights.
Colin Rambo, who lives outside San Diego in Lemon Grove, he told CBS 8 who witnessed seeing “a bunch of red lights floating in the sky.” Rambo told the television station that he was driving when he saw what he called a fleet of “glowing red orbs.”
For five minutes, Rambo reported seeing at least 25 of the orbs.
In Temecula, which is located in Southern California’s wine region in Riverside County, residents reported seeing large drones hovering over the community.
One resident said the objects were the size of a car.
They’ll go straight in one direction, and then all of a sudden they’ll zig or zag and keep going, or they’ll turn and break really fast,” the man said.
Local sheriff’s officials said the drones did not belong to the department.
Camp Pendletona Marine Corps base north of San Diego, told the station it had received several reports of drone sightings from local residents. A base spokesperson told CBS 8 the base had no drone activity planned when the sightings occurred.
Unidentified drones have done it too been discovered more than four Royal Air Force Bases in England, which has caused the British government to request military aid, the the US Air Force said.
Air Force officials said “small” drones have continued to be spotted in and around the four British military installations since November 20. None of the activities disrupted base operations, officials said.
In a statement, the Air Force said the objects have varied in size and configurations and that the military is working with host nation officials and mission partners to support base personnel.
Reuters reported that drones have has also been seen at the US Air Force Base at Ramstein in Germany this month.
Sources told the international news wire that German officials have not determined who is operating the drones. However, they had ruled out the possibility that the drones were operated by hobbyists.
NewsNation’s Ross Coulthart will examine the puzzling case of the mysterious drones seen all over New Jersey in a special one-hour program on NewsNation at 9:00 PM ET on December 14th.
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.